Back-to-back
Columbiana’s boys basketball team poses for a photo after repeating as Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference champions on Tuesday at United. (Photo by Michael Burich)

HANOVERTON — Columbiana’s basketball team knew it would take hard work to repeat as Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference boys basketball champions after losing eight seniors to graduation.

On Tuesday, the Clippers put it all together to earn a share of its second straight EOAC title with a 65-43 win over United.

The league title is Columbiana’s 23rd in school history and marked the third time the Clippers won an EOAC title (2020, 2024, 2025).

The Clippers are 19-2 overall and 13-1 in the EOAC, having split the league title with Valley Christian who beat Leetonia on Tuesday to earn its share.

The championship came into focus on Friday when senior Seth Struharik hit a three at the buzzer to block Valley Christian from winning the title outright. After a 56-37 loss to Valley on Jan. 11, it looked like the chances of a repeat for the Clippers could be a lot longer odds.

“We took it personal,” Columbiana senior Seth Struharik said. “Every game we win or lose we learn from it. And I guess we learned a lot from that game.”

Struharik again put on a show against United as he had 25 points, four steals and three rebounds in the win. One of his highlights include a logo three to end the first half.

“Every team I played with we just had great bonds,” Struharik said. “That’s what made us win these league games.”

Struharik is averaging 21.8 points per game and has been the offensive engine that is making the Clippers hum along.

Junior Cooper Brown had his say on Tuesday as he had 16 points, four assists, three steals, five blocks and three rebounds.

“It’s a nice thing to accomplish,” Brown said about the title. “We got to put our number up on the board. That was our main goal coming into the season. It’s a nice thing to win a league and it’s real exciting for our team.”

Coming into Tuesday’s game, Brown was averaging 13.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.

“It took effort and perseverance,” Brown said about the title. “No one came in other than us that we were going to win the league. Everyone was kind of thinking ‘we lost eight seniors’ but we’re better than eight seniors. We’re a good team.”

Hunter Davanazo added six points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.

United fell to 4-16 and 2-11 in the EOAC. The Eagles turned the ball over 27 times but showed ability to get back in the fight. Matthew Hoopes led the Eagles with eight points.

“With only four wins it has been rough,” United coach Jason Thompson said. “There’s a lot of growing pains. It’s something that when I looked at it, it was a possibility. Our young kids are coming along. Our jayvees are playing well. The upper classmen are being good leaders. They have great attitudes. It’s still a great atmosphere to be around.”

The Clippers got the No. 2 seed in the Div. VI tournament, but the district they’ve been placed in is a tough one. If No. 8 seed Campbell, winners of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Scarlet Tier with a 59-54 win over McDonald on Tuesday, beats No. 25 seed Southern on Feb. 21, the Clippers would host the Red Devils on Feb. 25 in the district semifinals.

“They obviously thought they’d have an opportunity to come to our place and have a competitive game,” Columbiana coach Todd Johnson said. “I don’t know what their coaches were thinking or whatever, but we can’t worry about that. What we can worry about is working to get better each day.”

Last season, No. 14 seed Columbiana exited the tournament in the sectional opener with a 45-35 loss to No. 35 seed Chagrin Falls.

Also in Columbiana’s bracket this year are No. 6 seed LaBrae, No. 4 seed Valley Christian and No. 21 seed Springfield Local.

Game notes

¯ Columbiana finishes its regular season on Friday at Mathews.

“We have a tough one at Mathews,” Johnson said. “They’re Div. VII but they’re a good team. We got to go to their place ‘the shoe box’ where it is always fun. It’s going to be a tight environment and they’re going to pressure us and trap us and that will be good.”

¯ Columbiana is ranked 32nd in Div. VI in Ohio according to MaxPreps’ RPI rankings. The Clippers’ strength of schedule is -8.3. No one above the Clippers in the rankings has a worse strength of schedule ranking.

¯ United’s only boys basketball league title came in 1992 in the Tri-County League.

¯ Columbiana split the league title with Lisbon last season.

¯ United hosts Youngstown Urban Scholars on Friday. It could be the last game in the Eagle gym for a while as construction of the new school is expected to shut down play in the gym until the 2026-27 school year.

¯ United won the jayvee game, 55-40. Ryan Miller had 11 points for the Eagles, while Murphy had 11 points for the Clippers.

¯ Struharik now has 932 points for his career. He has a minimum of two games left and if the Clippers manage to extend their tournament run, he could be looking at a chance at getting to the 1,000 mark.

“The team is looking out for me, but we all look out for each other,” Struharik said. “I’m not really too focused on that. I’m a team player.”

CO: 23-14-13-15–65

UN: 12-9-10-12 –43

COLUMBIANA SCORING: Seth Struharik 10-3-25, Cooper Brown 7-2-16, Reese Roush 0-1-1, Trey Snyder 0-0-0, Luca Cagliuso 2-1-6, Carter Johnson 0-0-0, Brayden Clancy 2-1-5, Avery Young 1-0-3, Hunter Davanzo 3-0-6, Liam McElwain 1-0-3, J.J. Tollas 0-0-0, Brennan Murphy 0-0-0, William Croake 0-0-0. TEAM TOTALS: 26-53, 9-16: 65.

UNITED SCORING: M’Kyan Haynes 3-0-7, Abram Ceresna 2-2-6, Kadin Schonauer 1-2-4, Ryan Miller 1-0-2, Kota Shasteen 1-1-3, Alex Rawson 0-0-0, Trent Ellyson 2-0-5, Wyatt Blevins 0-0-0, Thomas Elston 0-1-1, Matthew Hoopes 3-0-8, Luke Mercer 3-1-7. TEAM TOTALS: 15, 7-9: 43.

Three-point goals: Columbiana 4-14 (Struharik, Cagliuso, Davanzo, McElwain), United 3 (Hoopes 2, Ellyson).