Senior captain Marcus Carter said he was not the least bit surprised with how sharp Bruton High’s boys basketball team looked in their season opener Wednesday night.
The Panthers smothered host Lafayette with their vintage half-court trap defense all game long and forced the Rams to cough up 30-plus turnovers en route to running away with an 87-37 victory.
Bruton’s relentless three-quarters court pressure forced 22 turnovers in the first half alone as the Panthers built a commanding 30-point lead (44-14) at the break.
“I wasn’t surprised at all,” said Carter, who finished with 14 points. “We’ve been working all summer and during Fall League so there was no reason not to be ready to come out and play our game.”
Panthers second-year coach Joe Dillard agreed, saying his team’s one-point loss in the state semifinals last year has changed the way they prepare for games.
“When you lose by one point at states, you sit all offseason saying, ‘What could I have done to be one point better?’” Dillard said after the game. “It’s about attention to detail, and we value every single possession. Tonight we came out as a team, played hard and put defense first and the rest came together.”
While Bruton’s defensive pressure led to many easy buckets in transition, the Panthers also got an outstanding offensive performance from senior Lonnie Swinton, who buried six 3-pointers — several coming from beyond NBA range — before finishing with a career-high 30 points without even touching the court during the fourth quarter. Swinton also treated the crowd with a couple of alley-oops to Carter, including one third-quarter highlight-reel play where he laid it off the backboard for Carter to slam home.
“This was probably the best time where he let the game come to him,” Dillard said of Swinton. “He usually shoots four or five 3’s a game, and I told him that if he had trouble getting going that I had plenty of other shooters ready to come off the bench.”
No need, Coach.
Swinton poured in 13 of his 30 points in the first quarter as Bruton ended the period on a 27-2 run to seize a 29-4 advantage. Swinton also helped set the tone defensively with three steals in the opening period that each led to points on the other end.
“I felt great tonight,” Swinton said. “We played good as a team and my 3’s were falling. It just seemed like everything was clicking.”
Lafayette’s Bryce Losty opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner, but Bruton quickly answered with an 8-0 run before padding its lead to 30 points, 44-14, at halftime.
The third quarter was all Swinton.
After opening the second half with a layup off a steal, Swinton went on to knock down a trio of 3-pointers as he outscored Lafayette’s entire team 14-12 in the quarter. After burying back-to-back 3’s, Swinton pulled up from beyond 30 feet, swished the jumper and was fouled. Dillard could do nothing but grin and shake his head.
“When he’s hot, he’s hot,” Carter said of Swinton. “Coach [Dillard] always tells us to give him the ball when he’s feeling it.”
Leading 70-26 after three quarters, Dillard was able to empty his bench in the fourth when guys like Ethan Rice (6 points) and Daniel Jones showed how dangerously deep Bruton may be this season as 11 different players scored.
Mark Rivera led Lafayette in scoring for the second straight game with 10 points while C.J. Miller added nine and Bryce Losty chipped in with eight.
The Rams (1-1, 0-1 BRD) will play host to Grafton on Friday while Bruton (1-0, 1-0 BRD) travels to play Poquoson.
Bruton 87 Lafayette 37
Bruton- 29 15 26 17 – 87
Lafayette- 4 10 12 8 – 37
Bruton (1-0, 1-0 BRD): Swinton 30, Carter 14, Doucet 11, Hert 6, Rice 6, Edwards 5, Brown 4, Jones 4, Sangalang 3, Carr 2, Taylor 2.
Lafayette (1-1, 0-1 BRD): Rivera 10, Miller 9, Losty 7, Paige-Wright 5, Adderty 4, Ball 2.
