Staff photo / Dan Hiner. Jackson-Milton’s Ryen Romigh (11) drives past Columbiana’s Cooper Brown (2) while on his way to the basket during the fourth quarter of a game Tuesday at Jackson-Milton High School.

NORTH JACKSON — As the game went on, the Columbiana boys basketball team started to flex its muscles.

The Clippers began dominating the boards late in the third quarter, and it carried through the fourth frame of a 78-57 win over Jackson-Milton on Tuesday in North Jackson.

Columbiana (1-0) led 35-29 at halftime, and the lead slowly began to grow in the third. Offensive rebounding led to second-chance points for the Clippers, and the Blue Jays (0-2) didn’t have enough firepower to keep up in the final 10 minutes or so.

“They had a lot of length that bothered us, and I’m breakin’ in a lot of new guys,” Columbiana head coach Todd Johnson said. “We graduated a lot of kids from last year. I return one varsity starter and four new guys rotating in … a couple younger guys as well.

“I’m proud as heck just because they weathered that storm a little in a varsity basketball game, their first one, and we were able to come out tonight with a victory.”

Senator Johnson and Seth Straharik led the scoring charge for the Clippers. Straharik had 27 points to power his team, and Senator Johnson added 19 points.

“They did a great job of getting into the lanes a little bit, getting the basketball and taking it strong,” Todd Johnson said.

Ryen Romigh tried keeping the Blue Jays in the game with his scoring. Romigh finished with a game-high 39 points, including seven 3-pointers. He scored 21 points in the first half, but he was the only double-digit scorer for Jackson-Milton.

“He’s almost unguardable,” Jackson-Milton head coach Tom Sharp said. “You have to send two, three guys at him. He’s just good. We gotta help him out though.”

Losing the rebounding battle late in the game is also leading to a disturbing trend for the Blue Jays. Sharp said his crew lost the battle on the boards in the season opener against Mathews as well.

“First half we rebounded well. Second half, we lost Vinny Fay. That was a tough loss for us,” Sharp said. “We did not move guys in the second half, and yeah, we got killed on the boards. It’s kind of been a thing for us already. First two games, I think against Mathews, we got beat by 20 on the boards. Tonight, it was probably about the same.”

For Columbiana, it’s a win in Game 1 of the season. It’s something the coaches and players will enjoy for a brief moment before getting ready for a game against Academy of Urban Scholars on Friday.

“It’s great to go 1-0, especially for the young guys to get their first taste in an environment like Jackson-Milton,” Todd Johnson said. “The crowd was loud, everybody was loud, up and into it. I’m proud as heck for their resolve and how they came out.”

ADD A NAME TO THE BANNER

Romigh scored his 1,000th career point in the first half.

He needed nine points to join a short list of Jackson-Milton boys basketball players to reach the milestone.

The last Blue Jay boy to score his 1,000th point was Mason Robison on Feb. 9, 2021. The other boys to do it are Jacob Carlile, Bobby Schneilback, Tim Shaw and Ryan Grope.

“It feels great,” Romigh said. “I had a lot of family in the stands, a lot of support here tonight. It was great to do it in front of all of them.”