Clippers cool in the clutch, beat Bulldogs

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

EAST PALESTINE — Just when the East Palestine boys basketball team was about to pull off the big upset, Columbiana stole the show and got Friday’s win.

Columbiana senior Andrew Tirpak took a perfect pass from Ryan Williams and sank the winning basket with just four seconds remaining to keep the Clippers (16-1, 13-0 Inter-Tri-County League’s Tier One) unbeaten in the league in a thrilling 57-56 victory.

With 13.4 seconds remaining, East Palestine (12-5, 8-5) rallied to take the lead, 56-55, on a three-point play by sophomore Ben Gysin.

Columbiana called time out with 8.4 seconds remaining and set up the game winner.

“We were trying to go to [Joe] Blinsky, but Ryan [Williams] made a great play getting the pass into Andrew [Tirpak] and he was all alone for the shot,” Columbiana coach Eric Whitmer said.

“We knew it was going to be a battle here and everybody on either team played their hearts out on that floor tonight,” Whitmer said.

East Palestine coach Tom Bingham was dejected but praised both teams.

“They beat us, they made the basket at the end to win it, but our kids played their hearts out tonight,” Bingham said. “It was a great high school basketball game.”

East Palestine was in command the entire first period, jumping out to a 22-8 advantage. But the Bulldogs went cold and started turning the ball over, scoring just three points in the second quarter to let the Clippers back in the game.

“We talked about it all week, about how each team was going to make their runs in the game,” Bingham said. “We had ours in the first quarter, but we knew they were going to get theirs and they did in the second.”

Gysin had eight of his team-high 15 points in the first quarter as the Bulldogs had only one turnover for the first seven minutes and just two in the quarter while pulling to a 22-10 advantage.

But then East Palestine committed six turnovers in the first three minutes of the second quarter. They didn’t score a basket until there was 3:35 left in the quarter. That was the Bulldogs’ only basket of the period as the Clippers battled back for a 14-3 advantage and cut the lead to 25-22 at intermission.

The third quarter was a real dogfight with the lead changing hands eight times with both teams shooting well at times and also playing sloppy at times.

Senior Wes Best put the Bulldogs back on top 34-33 with 1:50 remaining in the quarter and the Bulldogs reeled off six straight points and led 38-33 in the final minute and led 40-36 after three quarters.

East Palestine held onto the lead until Travis Denmeade tied the contest at 46-46. The Bulldogs regained the lead as J.C. Bollinger hit a bucket and then made one of three free throws and Matt Greene added another charity toss for a 52-48 lead with 2:26 left.

Denmeade hit a 3-point shot with 2:11 left to pull to within a point 52-51 and Williams scored off a steal with 1:16 remaining to tie the game at 53-53. The Bulldogs called a time out and then threw the inbound pass away and the Clippers ended up getting two free throws from Blinsky with 31 seconds remaining to take the lead 55-53.

That set the stage for Gysin’s basket off a feed from Greene but the Bulldogs’ celebration lasted only seconds before Tirpak ended their hopes.

Williams finished with 15 points and Tirpak 14 for the Clippers, while Greene added 11 and Bollinger 10 for the Bulldogs.