The atmosphere at Newbury High School last Friday night was festive.
GAME PHOTOS: http://bit.ly/2GfBqtq
The atmosphere at Newbury High School last Friday night was festive.
It’s been a pretty successful school year for the Black Knights in sports, and the outlook for this winter season is solid as well. Talent is there for all the teams.
The Bristol Panthers, who have built a very solid tradition in boys basketball, are usually a local power, even to the point of being a state contender, so it figured they would give the Black Knights all they could handle in this key Northeastern Athletic Conference tilt.
Newbury was right with them until midway through the second period. Then, tied at 17-17 in a very physical contest, whistles starting sounding more often. With early foul problems for both Owen Mansfield and Tino Johnson sending them to the bench for a while, Bristol applied pressure big time, constricting everything the Black Knights would face the rest of the night, and Bristol rolled to a 79-43 victory.
Fueling the fast-paced demolition for the Panthers was senior forward Gage Elza, who put home 42 points on the night with every type of shot but a dunk, which he passed up on several occasions. It was his 17-point outburst in the second period that ignited the action. His driving layup broke that 17-17 tie, and with consecutive 3-pointers with just under three minutes left in the first half, extending the lead to 33-21, Newbury slowly began to whither under constant full-court pressure, all this despite being able to make many good plays of their own.
Newbury (2-1, 1-1 in NAC) may win some games while shooting only 32 percent, as they did in this game, but the constant pressure defense of Bristol got them good shots, especially in transition, and nearly every mistake the Black Knights made either turned into a layup, with the Panthers shooting over 52 percent for the game, or 3-pointers, 10 of which went in, Elza’s seven leading the way.
The passing game of Bristol had the home guys moving, at times too much, leaving open shots that went in.
“At the end of the day,” Newbury coach Dan Jones said, “they just play so incredibly hard every second of the game, you can’t keep up with them. We didn’t play so poorly tonight, but Bristol plays so incredibly disciplined basketball, that’s the tradition they have built with solid intensity, and you can only hope for mistakes. There weren’t many tonight.”
Up 37-24 at the half, Bristol opened the third period with a 15-2 run, Elza scoring 10 of those points. No matter who looked to guard him, he moved around so much that he had people running into each other quite frequently, leaving even more open shots, and he ended up hitting on 15 of 23 for the night.
As a team, the Black Knights only succeeded on 16 shots.
Matt Church and Mike Wiebe each added 11 points for the Panthers, many on follow-up misses of teammates and almost all from close range.
Mansfield did well in scoring 12 points, but his early foul issues put a damper on his inside efforts. He grabbed 12 rebounds on the night, nine in the first half alone.
With Johnson resting uncomfortably with his own foul issues, Newbury couldn’t match up in size on the glass, but a deep bench brigade allowed Bristol to control things anyway.
All was not lost for Newbury, though. Late in the night, the bench brigade got some floor action against a still-solid Bristol group, and as the final seconds were counting down, Black Knight freshman Markel Morris took a pass on a fast break from Cameron Hill, stopped quickly, and nailed a 3-pointer of his own to give the Newbury contingent something to cheer about as the clobbering came to an end.
This team, solid as it has shown in preseason scrimmages so far and in games, should be successful this season. But attitude will be key, as depth is still lacking.
Good news is coming, though, as Noah Parsons, injured in the last football game of the season, is healing and possibly returning after the new year holiday.
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “They want to keep a close watch on the healing process, and I’m hoping to give it a try after the first of the year.”
That should help the depth for Newbury that they could have used in this game, but it wouldn’t have mattered.
“One of the things Bristol always brings into games is their intensity,” Jones said. “It matters not how well you play against them, as it’s easy to see, as a smaller school, how much time and effort they put into their basketball because that’s where they have had the most success.
“They are at it all year ’round, and it shows in how they play. They’ve had good coaches for years in building their program, they have pride in it, and make it work.”
