Boardman holds off East's rally
YOUNGSTOWN Holden Lipke’s hot shooting start and Travis Koontz’s dominance on the boards in the third quarter helped the Boardman High School boys basketball team open up a 16-point lead on East.
Those performances came in handy as the Panthers climbed back into Friday’s game, twice cutting the lead to four in the Spartans’ 68-62 victory.
“I’m not surprised it turned into a possession game in the fourth quarter,” Boardman coach Pat Birch said. “We played them earlier in the year at home in a very similar game [60-51].
“You know they are going to keep coming after you, challenging you,” Birch said. “I thought we did a good job of answering those challenges.”
Lipke also wasn’t shocked that the game tightened up.