Free throw advantage helps lift East Palestine

The Bulldogs are 1-1 after the win while United is 1-3.
By JOHN BUTERA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HANOVERTON -- Coming off a close loss Tuesday night and not wanting to start off 0-2 in Tri-County League play, the East Palestine High boys basketball team used a 14 of 25 fourth quarter foul line effort to edge United 64-56 on Friday.
"This is a huge win for us," said Bulldogs coach Tom Bingham. "There's just no way we wanted to be 0-2 in the league before Christmas. That would have really put us behind the eight ball."
Leading 45-34 early in the fourth quarter, East Palestine (1-1) looked in fine shape when Tim Doran hit two free throws and Dan Hanolt scored off a rebound to put the Bulldogs in command 49-34 at 5:18. Hanolt showed fine form all night, leading his team with 10 rebounds while scoring 13 points.
Cutting the deficit
But United wasn't finished. Dan Shaffer and Chris Harrison each hit 3-pointers to cut the deficit to four (54-50) with 1:45 remaining. But East Palestine's Joe Thompson hit a free throw and Travis Foreman scored off a rebound to all but put the game away for the Bulldogs, 57-50, with 1:39 left.
Thompson and Foreman shared scoring honors for the Bulldogs with 19 each while Foreman also added nine rebounds.
"Our kids are leaning how to win," added Bingham. "And I'll tell you this: They learned how to win here tonight and that's not easy."
The Bulldogs hit their first three shots to jump out to a 7-0 lead. But they went cold, hitting just of their next 10, allowing United to pull within two, 10-8, at the end of one quarter.
Leading 27-18 at halftime, East Palestine was taking care of the ball while committing few fouls. That would change in the third quarter. East Palestine put United on the line with five minutes left in the third period and the Eagles were in the double bonus at the 1:51 mark.
More aggressive
"We're a little more aggressive this year," said Bingham. "And that really showed in the third quarter. Plus we had the chances to put the game away in the first half but those shots didn't fall."
United got only nine shots off in that third period, thanks to mostly being on the foul line, while East Palestine went 6 of 18 en route to a 42-33 advantage.
Shaffer led United (1-3, 1-1) with 16 points while Harrison had 12.