Bulldogs rally past Clippers for win

By Jim Flick

Ben Gysin scored 22 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, for East Palestine.

COLUMBIANA — After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, the East Palestine High boys basketball team stormed back in the second half to defeat Columbiana 56-51 Friday night.

The Bulldogs were led by senior center Ben Gysin, who scored 22 points, including eight points in the fourth quarter, when East Palestine (3-0) outscored the Clippers 12-5 to take the lead in the final minutes of the game.

Gysin, a 6-foot-5 senior, played a strong inside game Friday, scoring all of his points in the paint while hauling down 12 rebounds.

Austin Cope and Trevor Reiser each contributed 10 points to the East Palestine offense. Cope was also credited with seven assists.

The game’s high scorer was Columbiana’s Tyler Denmeade, who sank 10 shots, including two 3-pointers, to tally 26 points. Logan Goist added 10 points for the Clippers (1-2).

East Palestine coach Tom Bingham said Columbiana set the pace in the first half, but his team changed the pace of game after halftime.

“In the second half we started to execute what we’ve been working on instead of forcing what wasn’t working,” he said.

Despite trailing by more than a dozen points late in the second quarter, and 35-28 at halftime, Bingham said,

“We did not panic. We got more patient. We hung around and hung around and found a way to win.”

A big part of the Bulldogs’ early problems was the play of Denmeade, who scored 19 of Columbiana’s 35 points in the first half.

“He’s a good player,” Bingham said. “But we altered our defense a lot and paid more attention to him.

“We slowed down the game so he got less touches.”

Because of the Bulldogs’ changes in defense and the pace of the game, Denmeade scored only seven points in the second half.

“We fell into an offensive rut in the second half and couldn’t get the ball to go down,” said Columbiana coach Eric Whitmer.

The Clippers connected only seven of 27 shots in the first half, compared to 13 of 28 in the first half.

Columbiana’s missed shots also made Gysin’s strong inside play a big factor, Whitmer added.

“The difference between them and us is they have a big guy down there,” he said.

Despite the loss, Whitmer commented, “I’m not at all disappointed. It’s a long season and we’ll be fine.”

In fact, he added, “I was pleased. We played hard.”

When the game started, it seemed at first that East Palestine was determined to get off to a fast start. The Bulldogs scored the game’s first five points, including a 3-pointer by Jake DiCello, to take a 5-0 lead.

But Columbiana stormed back, quickly taking a 10-7 lead. The Clippers scored 21 points in the first quarter, the highest-scoring quarter by either team all night, and led 21-16 at the end of the first quarter.

The Clippers’ onslaught slowed in the second quarter, when they outscored the Bulldogs 14-12.

Denmeade’s first two buckets in the first half were 3-pointers. He also played strong defense, stealing the ball in the second quarter and dribbling the length of the court for a layup.

But in the third quarter, East Palestine started its comeback, outscoring Columbiana 16-11.

East Palestine finally reclaimed the lead late in the fourth quarter. After two teammates missed shots, Gysin snagged a rebound and scored to give East Palestine 52-51 lead.

Cope and DiCello each sank a pair of free throws in the game’s final moments to end the scoring.