Prep boys basketball Class AAA final: Bridgeport's Zuliani kicks out Nitro for title

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound senior was the difference between Saturday’s game and the Indians’ 52-44 loss to Nitro at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Hoops Classic at West Virginia State University back on Dec. 22.

Bridgeport’s lone setback came eight days after the Indians won the football state championship. Two weeks earlier, Bridgeport defeated Nitro 70-21 in the playoff quarterfinals.

“Nitro had a real good game then, but we were not ready for that,” Bridgeport coach Dave Marshall said. “Our [football] guys were eligible to play, but they hadn’t practiced the way they have since. We’d played our two biggest rivals, Fairmont Senior on Tuesday and beat them, and [Robert C.] Byrd on Thursday and beat them. I had concerns about the schedule-maker [Marshall himself] scheduling that third game with Nitro on that Saturday.”

Zuliani scored two points and grabbed four rebounds in 11 minutes of play in the first meeting with the Wildcats. Fellow Indians football player Jack Spatafore scored four points and pulled down two rebounds.

“Jack had no legs in that game,” Marshall said. “He had none. Carter played 10 minutes, 45 seconds. That was about 3 minutes, 45 seconds too much. He couldn’t get up and down the floor. They had nothing left.”

Both players worked themselves into basketball shape and certainly were in it Saturday. Spatafore, a 6-1 guard, scored 12 points. Zuliani was a force inside on offense and defense. He blocked two shots but altered many more.

Marshall said the loss in the first game might have been a blessing, in that it took off the pressure associated with an undefeated season. It also left Bridgeport hungry for revenge.

Zuliani, who also is a swimmer, said being in basketball shape was a difference-maker for him.

“It definitely helps a lot,” he said. “Playing multiple sports, I could never really focus on one at one time. Once football was over, basketball was the main thing. It took a while, but I got it down.”

Zuliani didn’t score a field goal Saturday until the 5:16 mark of the second quarter. By then, though, he had made his presence felt on defense and rebounding. He headed a unit that battered Nitro 39-15 on the boards and limited the Wildcats to two second-chance points. Bridgeport netted 14 points off second chances and owned a 26-14 advantage in the paint.

Zuliani’s physical play — he opened stitches from a previous cut on his chin and had to change from No. 21 to 10 because of blood on his jersey — thwarted Nitro’s efforts.

“We battled, but at the end of the day, they got us up inside,” Nitro coach Austin Lowe said. “They were more physical than we thought. Just the physicality. They were all over us. We thought it would be a battle inside, but if you told me we’d get outrebounded by 24, I’d have told you you were crazy.”

That was the Marshall plan, to take away Nitro’s ability to drive the lane and hold the Wildcats to one shot. It worked, as Bridgeport snagged 16 offensive rebounds to Nitro’s 15 total.

Lowe said he was impressed by Zuliani.

“He’s a big kid,” Lowe said. “I didn’t think he’d give us the problems that he gave us. I won’t say he got away with a lot, but he’s pretty physical. He took it to us.”