John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
KINNIKINNICK — Even though they trailed at halftime, the Zane Trace Pioneers continued their disciplined approach as and dominated the second half to earn a season-opening win over Circleville on Wednesday.
Down 22-15 at the break, the Pioneers (1-0) outscored the Tigers 36-13 over the final 16 minutes of play to close out the opening night of the Zane Trace Tip-Off Classic — handing first-year head coach Tyler Cassidy his first win.
ZT got out to a quick start as Landon Robinson finished a driving layup on the left side to get the scoring started. Junior Grady Stewart followed with a midrange jumper and a wing 3-pointer with 5:09 to play in the first quarter, making it 7-0 early.
Circleville (0-1) began to chip away at the lead with baskets from Jack Kline, Kole Nungester and Riley Jenkins, eventually closing the quarter on an 8-2 run to make it a one-point game following eight minutes.
The Tigers started the second with a 17-foot jumper from Jenkins before Nungester found Kline in transition for a layup with 5:40 to play in the half. Circleville slowly built on that lead through the remainder of the half, capitalized with a long 3 from Jenkins with 2:43 to play in the quarter.
Trailing 22-13 in the closing seconds of the stanza, Robinson connected with Gunnar McCullough on the left side of the basket and the junior elevated to finish at the rim, just before the buzzer to make it a 22-15 game at the break.
Zane Trace came out of the locker room with a renewed intensity on the defensive end, while maintaining a tactical attack on the offensive end.
Ezra Rippeth scored two quick baskets, highlighted by a triple in front of the Pioneer bench with 5:54 to play in the third, cutting the lead to 22-20. Following a turnover, McCullough found a cutting Rippeth for a driving score, plus a foul, to give the Pioneers a 23-22 lead midway through the third.
Then, at the 2:25 mark of the third, the tide of the game turned completely.
Nungester beat his man off the dribble and placed a perfect bounce pass to a cutting Ed Kirk, who elevated and flushed down a two-handed slam — but held onto the rim for a bit too long and was whistled for a technical foul.
The Tigers went from the elation of the game-tying jam to their shoulders dropping as the Pioneers stepped to the line with a chance to take back the lead.
They did just that as Robinson buried both free throws before Stewart scored on a put back, followed by a shot from downtown to make it a 33-24 lead with 45 seconds to play in the quarter.
Kline knocked down a big trey for the Tigers to close out the quarter, but the damage had already been done.
From the closing seconds of the second to the Kline trifecta, the Pioneers went on a dominant 20-2 run to take complete control.
In that third quarter, the Tigers made two of only four shot attempts, while turning the ball over seven times and helping the Pioneers to their difference-making defensive effort.
The fourth would be more of the same as Stewart attacked the basket to get a driving layup, before finding Robinson for a wing 3-pointer to take a 40-27 lead with 6:00 to play.
Jenkins scored from the outside to eventually cut the lead to 40-32 with 4:32 to play, but the rest of the night belonged to the Pioneers.
Following a pair of free throws from McCullough, Stewart got a run out bucket, but surprisingly could not convert, However, Noah Houston came up with a winning play for a hustle put back to give the Pioneers a 44-32 lead with 2:25 left and all but put the game on ice.
The final moments were capped off at the free throw line for the Pioneers as Houston, McCullough, Robinson and Roman Berry all added to the lead from the stripe to help provide the Pioneers with a season-opening 51-35 victory.
Stewart finished his first career varsity start with a game-high 16 points while Robinson (11), McCullough (10) and Rippeth (10) were also in double figures for the Pioneers.
Jenkins led the Tigers with 10 points while Kline added seven.
While Circleville hopes to get in the win column on Saturday, hosting Liberty Union, the Pioneers are back in action on Tuesday at Westfall.
BOX SCORE
Circleville: 8-14-5-8 — 35
Zane Trace: 9-6-18-18 — 51
Circleville scoring: Jenkins 10, Kline 7, Kirk 6, Nungester 5, Fowler 4, Thornsley 2, Reicheldefer 1
Logan Elm scoring: Stewart 16, Robinson 11, McCullough 10, Rippeth 10, Houston 3, Berry 1
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