Columbiana’s Zander Oliver tries to scoot past Valley Christian’s Deion Miller on Friday. (Photo by Ron Firth)

COLUMBIANA — The Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference trifecta celebration will have to wait until the last game for the Columbiana boys basketball team.

The Clippers were aiming for a third straight EOAC title Friday night when Valley Christian visited in a key conference contest. But the visiting Eagles, who lost to the Clippers 54-41 on Jan. 9, turned the tables on the host Clippers in the rematch, upending them 53-41 in Richard Berryman Gymnasium.

With Lisbon’s win at Leetonia Friday night, Columbiana and Lisbon are back to a first-place tie in the EOAC standings with 11-2 league records. The Clippers can claim at least share of the league crown with a win at Southern Local on Feb. 18.

Despite having an off-night shooting and losing the rebounding battle, Columbiana held a three-point (40-37) lead over the Eagles entering the fourth quarter Friday.

But Valley Christian crashed the boards and outscored the Clippers 16-1 in the final frame to pull off the upset.

“They (the Eagles) got after it defensively better than we did,” said Columbiana head coach Todd Johnson. “So kudos to them, they played a great game. They out-executed us, they out-defended us and they out-coached us.”

Valley Christian head coach Dolph Carroll was asked what his team did differently from the earlier meeting with the Clippers?

“We were still trying to find ourselves,” said Carroll. “We’ve been close, we just haven’t been able to put a full game together. They’ve had a pretty rough couple of weeks of practice with having to deal with me, but they responded.”

Taking game-scoring honors for Valley Christian was standout Deion Miller, who finished with 21 points, including seven in the deciding fourth quarter.

“He’s a great kid,” said Carroll.

“They controlled the glass and they controlled the tempo,” said Johnson. “They got after it and I can’t say enough good things about them.”

Complementing Miller in double figures was Jordan Tutwiler with 13 points.

“That was all them (the team), there was no great coaching done tonight, it was just the kids playing and having the will to win,” stated the Valley Christian head coach.

Pacing the Clippers was standout Cooper Brown with 15 points, while Senator Johnson and Hunter Davanzo finished with nine points apiece.

“We struggled a little bit absolutely from the outside,” said Todd Johnson. “But it starts on the defensive end and starts with executing our stuff, running our stuff, and we did not.”

“We really did (do a great job on the boards),” said Carroll.

With the setback, Columbiana’s record is now 15-4 overall.

“They are so good,” said Carroll. “And we’re fortunate. We always have great games against them. The last time at our place just wasn’t one of those.”

With the win, Valley Christian improved to 9-7 overall and 9-4 in the EOAC.

In a tight first half in which Columbiana’s biggest lead was five points while Valley Christian led by as many as two, the Clippers and Eagles were tied 14-14 after one.

The Clippers went out to as much as a five-point advantage at 27-22 following two free throws by Brown with 1:27 left before the break. Valley trimmed the deficit to three (27-24) at intermission. Brown led the Clippers in the first half with 10 points and Senator Johnson added six. Miller led the Eagles in the opening 16 minutes with eight points.

Game notes

¯ Columbiana senior Brayden Clancy was in the starting lineup on crutches for senior night. He suffered a season-ending knee injury after four games.

The Clippers let the Eagles score a basket and then Brown passed to Clancy for a layup 23 seconds into the game. Clancy left the court to a standing ovation.

¯ Valley Christian held off a late Columbiana rally to win the junior varsity game, 44-39. Gregory Chism scored 15 points and Equan Benson 12 for the Eagles. Jacob Parks had 16 points and Zander Oliver 12 for the Clippers.

¯ Columbiana, which is the second seed in the OVAC Class 3A Tournament, will host the Monroe Central Seminoles in Tuesday’s semifinal.