East Palestine romps, 64-33

By Tom Williams

Austin Cope and Ben Gysin combined for 30 points.

EAST PALESTINE — In the final battle between unbeatens in Inter Tri-County League Tier One play, the defending champions showed they remain the team to beat for a crown.

Coming off losses to Youngstown Christian and Mooney, the East Palestine High boys basketball team wasted little time regaining their winning edge.

The Bulldogs (6-2, 4-0) pounced on South Range (4-4, 3-1) right from the start of Tuesday’s league showdown at East Palestine High, racing to an 11-2 lead en route to a 64-33 win. Ben Gysin, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-5 senior post player, triggered the surge with six points (four from the free-throw line), two blocks and a rebound.

“Coming off a two-game losing streak, it’s pretty big for us to get our confidence back,” said Gysin who scored 14 points. “We played two tough teams in Youngstown Christian and Cardinal Mooney, so it’s nice to come out with a win.”

Senior wing Austin Cope said the Bulldogs’ strong start wasn’t an accident.

“We like to control our own destiny,” Cope said. “We knew that we were the only two undefeated teams left so we wanted to send a message out to the league, especially to [South Range].

“It’s a [big] rivalry, same thing in football,” Cope said of South Range. “So to come out as intense as possible and set the tone for the rest of the game was huge.”

Gysin said the Bulldogs benefitted from recent strong competition.

“It was really good [to play them] as it prepares us better for league play,” Gysin said.

About his team’s two losses, East Palestine coach Tom Bingham said he was “happy with the way we played over Christmas break [but] not necessarily with the way we practiced. Those were great games for us to get ready.”

Cope scored the other five points in the opening run and finished with a game-high 16.

The other seniors — Trevor Patterson and Trevor Reiser — finished with 10 and six points, respectively.

“Austin Cope and Trevor Patterson played their best all-around games tonight,” Bingham said. “And Trevor Reiser played an outstanding game on defense as far as rebounding and covering his assignments.”

Gysin, Cope and Patterson played on East Palestine’s football team which opened 5-0 before finishing second in the league to Crestview and losing to the Rebels in the first-round of the playoffs.

Cope and Gysin agree that winning a league crown in basketball after coming close in the fall motivates them.

“It’s pretty big for me — you want to go out with a bang,” said Gysin who’s hoping to play football next fall in college. “In football, I felt we kind of backed away toward the end. So we want to finish strong, win the league title and go deep into the tournament.”

Senior guard Peter Dinh and senior forward Kyle Seaver led the Raiders with seven points apiece. Sophomore guard Brandon Pluchinsky hit two 3-pointers for six.

After a 31-12 halftime lead, about the only thing that slowed last year’s ITCL Tier One champions was the cleanup of a blood spill late in the third quarter.

After limiting the Raiders to 20 points through three quarters, Bingham commented that the defensive game plan was “finally executed the way it’s supposed to be executed. We’ve been having breakdowns in it, but tonight we did not.”

williams@vindy.com