Staff photo / Brian Yauger Kennedy’s Nick Ryan (14) dribbles up the court against Bristol’s Garrett Roach (5).

WARREN — Over the last few seasons, Bristol and Kennedy have been in a very similar position. Both have been staples on the regional stage in Division IV and this year, both are rolling with young rosters.

The two have developed a friendly rivalry in recent years and have made sure to put each other on the schedule each season. The Eagles got out to a hot start from beyond the arc in Wednesday’s meeting between the teams and Kennedy rode that out to a 70-48 victory over the Panthers.

“Before the game we talked about just being in the moment enjoying basketball and playing as a team and getting rid of the outside distractions,” Eagles coach Mark Komlanc said. “It was a big game, there were a lot of fans there and sometimes that gets into your head. We have had some moments where that happened.

“Our game plan, it’s pretty simple. Every game we talk about playing to make each other better and rebounding the basketball and if we win the battle on the boards, we’re usually able to get out and run. We shoot the ball really well and they moved it well today, played defense when they needed to and really ramped it up there for a few minutes and got us a comfortable lead, so we’re happy with that.”

Kennedy had no problems shooting from deep Wednesday. Out of the 27 field goals the team converted on, 13 of them were from 3-point range. Nick Ryan, who led the team with 23 points, and Michael Condoleon (finished with 12 points), each had four 3-pointers on the evening.

Due to the success of the football team, Kennedy had a really late start to the season. The Eagles’ first game of the season was Dec. 14, when most other teams had a handful of games under their belts already. After an 0-3 start to the season, Kennedy has gone 6-2 with solid wins over Ravenna Southeast twice and Canton Central Catholic.

To Komlanc, the late start gave the team a sort of ‘extended preseason’. Since the team’s main focus is the tournament, Kennedy’s main objective over the last month has been a constant improvement.

“At that point, everybody else was like eight games in, plus scrimmages and we didn’t even have a scrimmage,” Komlanc said. “Our first five games I told the kids that this is our preseason. We’re just trying to get a feel for where we are and understand how we’re going to play together and what’s going to work and what’s not.

“It allowed us to refocus after those first two games, what we needed to work on and we’ve just been plugging away on those things throughout every practice. I’m trying to make sure we’re getting better every game and I feel like these last few weeks we’ve been getting better every game, which is what we need.”

Kennedy was able to take advantage of Bristol’s defense in that second quarter, which allowed them to pull from an 18-18 tie at the beginning of the quarter, to a 36-24 lead at halftime.

“We knew they wanted to shoot the 3-ball, we just did a poor job executing what we wanted to do defensively,” Panthers coach Craig Giesy said. “We left their best shooters open, they made shots, they got confident. When that happens, usually they’re going to continue to make them through the evening, on top of playing just a little bit harder defensively on the boards, and they just put it to us.”

Bristol falls to 11-4 on the year. Another team whose primary goal lies in the postseason, the Panthers are hoping for a strong finish to the regular season first.

A big part of that is going to come from sophomore Mikey Burbach who led the team with 24 points and the leadership of Nick Church who had 10.

“We just need to clean up the little details,” Giesy said. “We’ve got to play hard consistently. The biggest thing is just those little details, understanding concepts, what the game plan is, and executing five guys. If we have one guy that’s not not doing what we need to do each possession, even somebody different, it doesn’t look very good.

“We just need to commit to what the game plan is, commit to who we are as a program. We need to be reminded sometimes who we are as a program and then get ready for this run.”

The Panthers host Windham on Friday, then travel to Mathews on Tuesday in a game that could decide the Northeastern Athletic Conference title. Bristol met up with the Mustangs in December, losing 63-47 and are hoping for revenge.

The Eagles have two tough road contests this weekend with Rootstown and Lakeview on Friday and Saturday respectively.