Basketball Recap: Rootstown Comes Up Short

Rootstown was not able to break out of their rough patch on Tuesday as the team picked up their fifth straight loss. They were five points away from ending the streak, but they lost a 62-57 heartbreaker at the hands of the East Palestine Bulldogs.

Kyler Bourne continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for East Palestine, going 14 of 16 en route to 29 points and seven boards. Bourne is also on a roll when it comes to shooting accuracy, as he's posted one of at least 45% in the last eight games he's played. Landyn Cope was another key player, going 5 for 7 to rack up 11 points and six rebounds.

Rootstown's defeat dropped their record down to 4-17. As for East Palestine, their victory bumped their record up to 9-10.

Looking ahead, Rootstown will take on Mogadore at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. As for East Palestine, they and Southern will face off at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday without much rest having both just played. East Palestine is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51.6 points per game this season.