East Palestine starts slow, ends fast against South Range, 61-48

NORTH LIMA — Ben Gysin scored 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the East Palestine High boys basketball team to Tuesday’s 61-48 victory over South Range.

Trevor Reiser and Austin Cope added 16 and 15 points respectively as the Bulldogs remain undefeated in the Inter Tri-County League Tier One.

The win was the seventh straight for the Bulldogs (12-2, 10-0), who haven’t lost since a 64-55 setback at Youngstown Christian on Dec. 29. South Range (9-6, 8-3) lost for just the second time in their last seven outings.

“We expected this to be a very tough game,” Bingham said. “We always struggle here; it’s definitely a place with home-court advantage.”

On Jan. 5 in East Palestine, the Bulldogs easily defeated the Raiders, 64-33, holding them too just three first-quarter points and 12 at halftime.

It was a little different story in the rematch, however, as the Bulldogs trailed by a 7-4 count early before Reiser’s eight first-period points keyed a 10-0 run to help East Palestine to a 14-7 lead after the first eight minutes of play.

“Trevor [Reiser] has had six good games in a row now and keeps gaining confidence while Ben’s [Gysin] double-double speaks for itself,” Bingham said. “It’s a luxury to be able to put four seniors on the floor at the same time.”

South Range’s Kyle Seaver came off the bench to score eight of his 16 points in the second stanza, offsetting Cope’s triple and two free throws as the Bulldogs took a 25-17 lead at the intermission.

“We had a few too many turnovers in the first half and they were able to convert those miscues into points,” South Range coach Dave Purins said. “That gave them a cushion that was hard for us to overcome.

“East Palestine is a very disciplined team and right now the best team in the league,” Purins said. “On the other hand, Kyle [Seaver] played inspired basketball for us tonight. We took him aside, talked to him last week and asked him how he wanted to end his career.

“I couldn’t be more proud of his effort and how he responded tonight,” Purins said.

Gysin’s eight points after intermission staked the Bulldogs to a 44-30 advantage while Cope’s nine points in the final two periods helped keep East Palestine perfect after the New Year.

“It’s great to be in the driver’s seat,” Gysin said. “They ran a 2-3 zone and packed it in at the outset, but you could tell they wanted it because they are a tough team to beat at home.”

Cope said, “We needed to start fast tonight because they play so well at home. We didn’t want them to get the upperhand on us early.

“It’s a different atmosphere here; a real home-court advantage for them so we had to be prepared mentally as well,” Cope said.

Bingham said, “Over the past two weeks, we’ve been working hard and emphasizing getting our hands up on defense, and then executing once we got the ball.

“Austin [Cope] is a senior, first-team all-league selection last year who just seems to do what he has to do in order to get us going.”