Ruiz, Raiders ground Clippers

By Jon Moffett

COLUMBIANA — On a night when many high school basketball games were postponed due to inclement weather, South Range managed to plow its way through Columbiana.

The Raiders (10-6, and 9-3 in the Inter Tri-County League’s Tier One) stayed hot for a 66-45 victory over Columbiana Friday.

The Clippers (9-8, 7-5) were left out in the cold, despite inducting a class into the school’s athletic hall of fame.

South Range never trailed in the game and had four players shoot in the double digits.

The 6-foot-7 Nathan Ruiz led all scorers with 18 and said the team was able to see the floor well.

“We worked hard in practice and hustled for this game,” he said. “We moved the ball around a lot and it was a good game for all of us.”

Joining Ruiz were Andy Lacefield, with 15, and Travis Landis and Kyle Seaver with 10 each.

South Range head coach David Purins said he was pleased with his teams’ effort.

“They just played so well as a team tonight,” he said. “Nobody cares who gets the credit, they just work hard. I’m so proud of them.”

One thing that worked in the Raiders favor was their interior defense. The Clippers were forced to take jump shots from the outside.

Coach Eric Whitmer said while outside shooting is part of the gameplan, he was frustrated with his team’s poor shooting.

“The is was probably the most disappointing loss we’ve had [in a while],” he said. “We shot very poorly, and right now we’re a team that can’t afford to fall behind.”

But the Clippers did fall behind early and struggled to catch up.

The Raiders led 17-7 after the first quarter and converted several Clipper turnovers into points.

Whitmer said his team struggles with interior shooting have been an issue all season.

“We don’t have a true low post player, and that hurts us,” he said. “When the other team sits in a zone, we try to find different ways to get inside of it, but we got a lot of shots blocked [near] the basket.”

Purins said his defense really stepped up and helped keep the Clippers from gaining any momentum on their home court.

“We really did a great job of getting up underneath their shooters and not giving them much room to get comfortable,” he said.

Ruiz said the game plan was to force the Clippers to take low-percentage shots and not allow them to get into a rhythm from the floor.

“We knew they were good outside shooters, so we had to respect them from the 3-point line and just played really well,” he said.

Columbiana’s offense struggled to get anything going early. Only two players, seniors Tyler Denmeade and Logan Goist, scored in the first quarter. Denmeade led the team with 11 points and Goist finished with 10.

Goist also ran into foul trouble in the game. He earned his fifth and final foul with 6:08 remaining.

Whitmer said Friday’s performance was not typical of his team.

“We usually do a pretty good job of taking care of business on our home floor,” he said. “But give them credit, there team has gotten better. They move the ball well, and they shot the ball well. Everything they did well we did poorly.”

Purins, whose team is entrenched in the second spot in the ITCL Tier One behind East Palestine, said the effort his team displayed was the key to the victory.

“We had five guys who were sacrificing for each other out there tonight,” he said.

jmoffett@vindy.com