The bench players on a basketball team play a vital role in the team’s success as they are asked to perform when starters are having an off night, are in foul trouble or are out due to injury.
The Bethlehem boys experienced two of those scenarios on Friday night, but managed to prevail with a hard fought 76-65 victory over Columbia in a Suburban Council Gold Division battle at Bethlehem High School.
The Eagles played most of the game without two starters who found themselves in early foul trouble. They were also without starting perimeter shooter Dan Lanchantin, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.
I was trying to protect guys that were in foul trouble. When you change your personnel it obviously effects the flow of the game a little bit, Bethlehem coach A.G. Irons said. `We’re a pretty deep team, but the five that were on the court to begin the game have been practicing together for the last two days. So, they’re used to playing with each other.`
It looked as if the Eagles(7-3 league, 10-4 overall) would cruise to an easy victory as they raced to a 23-6 lead with two minutes to go in the first quarter. The early advantage was due to the play of senior guard Joe Kane, who made four of his five shots for nine points.
`In the first, it looked like we were going to blow them out, and I think everybody got that feeling,` said Irons.
After Bethlehem’s Connor Muncil knocked down a three-pointer with 4:52 left in the second quarter to make the score 31-16, Columbia stormed back behind Joe Keefe, who tallied 11 of his team’s 22 second-quarter points, which cut the Eagles’ lead to 36-33. Keefe finished with a game-high 28 points.
`Even though we gave up a ton of points in the second quarter, I still think we held our own,` Irons said.
Columbia tied the game at 38 less than two minutes into the third quarter, but Bethlehem went on a 19-9 run after that to take a 57-47 lead. Matt Branigan came up big after replacing John Drazan, who picked up his third foul early in the third quarter. Branigan scored nine of Bethlehem’s points during its spurt, while Muncil contributed six points.
`Matt has earned his place,` Irons said of Branigan, who finished with 16 points off the bench. `He has been playing well since our Christmas tournament at Proctor, and we’ve been trying to get him more minutes. He proved tonight that he deserves more minutes. I thought he did a really nice job.`
Bethlehem built its lead to 15 points in the fourth quarter and never looked back in beating Columbia.
`I think it was a good experience for us, knowing we can win close games,` Irons said.
Kane finished with a team-high 20 points, including a pair of three-pointers.
`We looked at his statistics in the locker room and said he didn’t have a Joe Kane night. It was an off night for Joe, and he’s going to have an off night once in a while. We just have to ride that out,` Irons said of his versatile star. `That’s an average night for most guys.`
The Eagles’ next test comes against Mohonasen this week.
`We’re not looking past Mohonasen for a second. We have a week to prepare, and that’s what we’ll be doing,` Irons said.“
