Columbiana’s Cooper Brown passes the ball as Lisbon’s AJ Ramgeet defends on Friday. (Photo by Gary Leininger)

LISBON — Rivals Columbiana and Lisbon, who were tied for first place in the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference, collided in one of the best high school boys basketball games a fan can witness Friday night.

In an intense showdown that had a little bit of everything, Columbiana took as much as a 17-point fourth-quarter lead, Lisbon incredibly stormed back to erase the deficit and take a two-point advantage (75-73) with just 1:46 left. But the visiting Clippers regrouped to fire the final salvos, outscoring the Blue Devils 6-0 in the remaining time to post an exhausting 79-75 win over Lisbon.

“It was just a great game, a great high school basketball game,” said Columbiana coach Todd Johnson. “It was a great atmosphere and both communities really showed out and I’m proud of both communities. This is what high school basketball is all about.”

“I was just talking to the kids, there’s a lot of emotion in there (the locker room),” said Lisbon coach Chris Huckshold. “They’ve got to regroup, but you know what I told them, everything will come down and people will remember the last two minutes, but it’s the job we didn’t do the first 30 minutes. If you played for the first 24 minutes the way you played the last eight minutes, it’s a different outcome, but that’s a testament to them (the Clippers).

With the win, Columbiana, which is 14-2 overall and 10-1 in the EOAC, took over sole possession of first place in the league. The Clippers have now won seven games in a row.

With the setback, Lisbon saw a six-game win streak snapped as the Blue Devils are now 11-4 overall and one game back of Columbiana in the EOAC at 9-2.

In a wild finish played before a large crowd in George M. Nace Jr. Gymnasium, Columbiana took a one-point lead (76-75) when the Clippers’ Senator Johnson dropped in the second of two free throws with 7.8 seconds left.

The Blue Devils hurried down the floor for a possible last-second shot, but Lisbon’s AJ Ramgeet lost possession of the ball after a collision. Upset with the no call, technicals were called on Huckshold, who was ejected, and Columbiana’s Cooper Brown sank all three technical foul shots and the Clippers secured the four-point (79-75) win.

“I apologize, I shouldn’t have lost my cool like that,” said Huckshold. “But you know what? I had a bird’s eye view to it. It was three times in the fourth quarter he (AJ Ramgeet) got hacked on coming in there for a jump stop and got no call. And you’re rewarding kids on the other end getting free throws on ticky tacks.”

“I put trust in my coach, I told him to give me those shots at the end and I made three to secure the game,” said Brown. “It (the end) was just part of the game and part of the rivalry. It’s so intense — everyone is always wanting it (the win).”

“I told them to try and stay as composed as you can,” said Todd Johnson of what he told his team during timeouts at crunch time. “In this environment try to stay as composed as you can, and composure is a hard thing to have. I’m proud as heck of our boys for sticking with it and being composed. Hey, to come in here and get a victory is tough against a very good basketball team.”

Lisbon’s AJ Ramgeet had an incredible game, finishing with a career-high 40 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter, along with 10 rebounds and four assists. That was eight points away from Austin Rutecki’s school record.

Teammates Blaine Barnes added 15 points, Aiden Myers had 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Aidan Ramgeet contributed six points and four assists.

“It was a great game, we knew Lisbon wouldn’t quit,” said Todd Johnson. “We had a lead but they (the Blue Devils) are an outstanding basketball team, so we knew they wouldn’t quit. They do an outstanding job. My brother-in-law (Chris Huckshold) does great and No. 23 (AJ Ramgeet) who is one heck of a basketball player and No. 0 (Aidan Ramgeet) are my nephews.”

Columbiana, which had eight three-pointers in the contest, was led by standouts Cooper Brown and Senator Johnson who scored 24 points each, Hunter Davanzo had 14, Carter Johnson added nine points and Trey Snyder had seven points.

“They (the Clippers) made shots,” said Huckshold of the difference between the first meeting with Columbiana (a 68-55 Lisbon win on December 23) and the second. “It’s on us to adjust and we didn’t do a good job, but when we started playing in the fourth quarter we got the tempo back. They (the Clippers) shot better as a team — 100 percent.”

Lisbon jumped out to as much as a five-point first-quarter lead (11-6) after the Barnes buried a three at the 3:15 mark of the opening frame. But Columbiana outscored the hosts 11-0 in the remaining time to take a three-point advantage (17-14) after one as Brown led the Clippers with seven points in the first frame.

“We tried to get out, we tried to run a little bit more,” said the Columbiana head coach of the difference from their first meeting with Lisbon. “We tried to push the tempo. However, we know AJ is a tough guard and he put 40 on us. We just tried to get out and run as best we can and then we have a little bit of a size advantage and we tried to crash the glass a little bit better.”

The momentum of the game definitely turned in Columbiana’s favor in the second quarter as the Clippers, who hit seven three-pointers in the first half, took as much as an 11-point lead on two occasions, including a 44-33 lead at half after Brown in a shot in the closing seconds. Brown had 13 points at the break, while Senator Johnson had nine.

“They came out and made a lot of threes early and they made some shots on some defensive breakdowns on our part,” said Huchshold.

The Clippers outscored the Blue Devils 22-18 to lead 66-51 after three quarters, setting the stage for what turned out to be a wild fourth quarter in which the Clippers prevailed.

Game notes

¯ In a hotly-contested fourth quarter, Lisbon won the junior varsity game by a 44-42 final.

Jett Vrable led the Blue Devils with 15 points. Cooper Terdina added 13 points and Isaac Kraft 12.

For the Clippers, Jacob Parks had 14 points and Zander Oliver 12.

¯ Lisbon will host Valley Christian in an EOAC game Tuesday night. Valley Christian trails Columbiana by two games in the EOAC.

Columbiana is also back in action Tuesday evening when the Clippers make the trip to the Ohio River to play the Wellsville Tigers in EOAC play.

C: 17-21-22-13–79

L: 14-19-18-24–75

COLUMBIANA SCORING: Cooper Brown 8-6-24, Senator Johnson 7-8-24, Zander Oliver 0-1-1, Trey Snyder 3-0-7, Carter Johnson 3-0-9, Avery Young 0-0-0, Hunter Davanzo 5-4-14. TEAM TOTALS: 26, 19-27: 79.

LISBON SCORING: Aidan Ramgeet 2-1-6, Blaine Barnes 6-0-15, Aiden Myers 3-4-10, Ashton Hinchliffe 0-0-0, AJ Ramgeet 17-5-40, Logan Sturgeon 2-0-4. TEAM TOTALS: 30-65, 10-17: 75.

Three-point goals: Columbiana 8 (Carter Johnson 3, Cooper Brown 2, Senator Johnson 2, Trey Snyder 1 ), Lisbon 5-19 (AJ Ramgeet 1, Blaines Barnes 3, Aidan Ramgeet 1).

Total fouls: Columbiana 12, Lisbon 16. Fouled out: Ashton Hinchliffe (L).