Morning Journal/Matt Morrison Columbiana’s Ian Less runs the offense while guarded by Lisbon’s Austin Dailey in front of a capacity crowd Friday at Columbiana High School.

COLUMBIANA — It was an emotional night on Friday for the Lisbon Blue Devils boys basketball team as it was without star player, Trevor Siefke.

Siefke’s mother, Tammy, had a stroke on Wednesday and the senior was with his family.

Without Siefke on the floor, the Blue Devils showed great effort, but ultimately fell to Columbiana 51-39 as the Clippers captured a share of the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference title.

“We knew it was going to be a big game and we knew it was going to be an emotional game,” Columbiana coach Todd Johnson said. “Lisbon was missing a big piece and our thoughts and our prayers are always with the Siefke family. I got emotionally choked up because I have been close with that family for a long time.”

“Trevor is the type of player that you can’t replace,” Lisbon coach Chris Huckshold said. “What he does is for us is well documented he has been doing it for four years and his teammates stepped up big for him tonight. I think he was smiling watching this game.”

Lisbon finishes the regular season 18-4 and 13-1 in the EOAC, while Columbiana finishes 17-5 and 13-1 in the EOAC.

Prior to the start of the game a moment of silence was held for Siefke and his family and a the game started with a ceremonial tip-off with only four Lisbon players on the floor to honor their teammate. At the end of the game both teams gathered to say a prayer for the Siefke family.

“Both communities did a great job tonight showing respect,” Huckshold said. “Making sure that the Siefke family knew that they were in our thoughts and in our prayers.”

“Sometimes it is just more than basketball and the emotions and some certain things that you can’t even explain,” Columbiana junior Seth Struharik said. “My prayers are up for Siefke’s family.”

Struharik and Maddox Brown had to battle to keep the edge over the Blue Devils.

“You could tell that (Lisbon) was full of spirit,” Struharik said. “You should always be locked in and me and Maddox were looking out for each other tonight and that’s what is good for our chemistry as a team.”

Struharik had 14 points and two assists, including eight points in a 15-4 run that gave the Clippers a 29-14 lead at halftime, while Brown had 12 points, five rebounds and five steals, including a break away dunk that gave the Clippers a 47-31 lead with 2:56 left in the contest. Devin Daugherty has 11 points and 13 rebounds. Alex Eusebio had six points and seven rebounds.

Even without Siefke, the Blue Devils continued to show production as it went on a 12-2 run to pull within nine points of the Clippers with 2:29 left in the third quarter.

“I think everybody was in a different role tonight,” Huckshold said. “It took us a little while we controlled the tempo and did a good job.”

Hunter Dailey led the Blue Devils with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Tate Wallen had nine points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Luke Kraft had four points and six rebounds.

Columbiana won the jayvee game 47-38. Columbiana was led by Copper Brown with 10 points. Alex Brown had 23 points for Lisbon.

Columbiana will host Chagrin Falls in the Division III sectional opener on Tuesday.

Lisbon will host Cornerstone Christian in the Division IV sectional opener on Tuesday.

L: 10- 4-10-15–39

C: 12-17-10-12–51

LISBON SCORING: Logan Stauffer 2-2-6, Luke Kraft 1-2-4, Tate Wallen 4-1-9, Hunter Dailey 4-1-13, Austin Dailey 1-0-2, Alex Schreffler 2-0-5.TEAM TOTALS: 15, 6-9: 39.

COLUMBIANA SCORING: Seth Struharik 5-2-14, Maddox Brown 4-4-12, Ian Less 2-2-6, Alex Eusebio 3-0-6, Cooper Brown 0-0-0, Devin Daugherty 5-1-11, Cameron Clancy 1-0-2.TEAM TOTALS: 17, 9-12: 51

Three-point goals: Lisbon 1 (Schreffler), Columbiana 2 (Struharik 2).