Staff photo / Preston Byers. Campbell Memorial’s DJ Lambert finishes a layup in the second half of the Red Devils’ playoff win at Columbiana on Tuesday.

COLUMBIANA — For most of the first quarter of Tuesday’s Division VI, Northeast 4 district semifinal game, it appeared as if eighth-seeded Campbell Memorial and No. 2 seed Columbiana were perfect matches for each other.

The teams equally fed off of the electric energy in the Columbiana gym, which was loud regardless of which squad scored.

However, the momentum and energy could only be maintained by the Red Devils, whose shooting buried the Clippers in an 83-48 rout.

“[In] the first quarter, we kind of let them get some easy buckets on us,” Campbell coach Nick Canterino said. “I thought once we limited that, we made some shots tonight. When we’re making threes, we’re tough to beat.”

From the opening tip, the fans in attendance were loud. On one side, a nearly-filled set of bleachers cheering on their Clippers. And on the other side of the court, Campbell fans, wearing a slightly different shade of red, loudly supported the Devils.

Both groups had plenty to cheer about early on; there were seven lead changes in the first four minutes of the game as both teams made shots to ignite their respective fanbases.

In the final few minutes of the quarter, though, Campbell went on the first of many extended runs. After Columbiana tied the game at 12 apiece, the Red Devils outscored the Clippers 15-3 over a two-and-half-minute span to take a double-digit lead into the second quarter.

“We’re excited. We think we’re one of the better teams around. We have a lot of confidence, so our guys just feed off that,” Canterino said of the atmosphere. “We play with a chip on our shoulder, and our community really showed up tonight, and I think our kids really fed off that. It was just an exciting environment. I’m glad our kids really played well.”

Campbell continued to increase the pressure on Columbiana, which could not manage to make a dent in the deficit. The Clippers entered the locker room at halftime trailing by 12.

Things would only get worse in the second half for Columbiana, as Campbell’s shooting remained red hot and Teyon Harris had his way in the paint.

By the end of the third quarter, Campbell had extended its advantage to 22 points, and after another eight minutes of action, the Red Devils officially ousted Columbiana with a 35-point trouncing.

Clippers head coach Todd Johnson pointed to Campbell’s streak of impeccable outside shooting as to where it went wrong for Columbiana on Tuesday.

“We had trouble guarding them. The coaches were just talking — they had 15 threes, so they shot the lights out,” Johnson said. “We obviously had trouble guarding them. Couldn’t get into anything. It was tough sledding for us.”

Columbiana also notably played Tuesday’s game, its first of the postseason after a bye through the sectional, without leading scorer Seth Struharik, who suffered a season-ending injury in the Clippers’ regular-season finale vs. Mathews on Feb. 14.

“I feel for the kid,” Johnson said of Struharik. “He’s put in a lot of work to get where he is at. So you feel extremely sad for the young man to unfortunately not be able to play one more game on his home floor. He helped his team earn that right to get them here. Unfortunately, it was sad to see him get injured there [with] six and a half to go in the fourth quarter.”

Despite the bitter end to the season, Johnson was steadfast in his belief that the Clippers’ 2024-25 campaign, which saw them win a share of the Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference title and 19 of their 23 games, was a positive one.

“Yeah, tonight stinks, but overall, our season was a success,” Johnson said.

Unlike Columbiana, Campbell is ensured at least one more game. The Red Devils will play LaBrae, the sixth seed, in the district title game Saturday at Salem. The Vikings defeated Springfield 70-34 on Tuesday to advance to the district final.