Eisenhower’s Gavin Lindemuth blocks a shot during Thursday’s opening-round basketball game against Clymer (N.Y.) at the Corry Tournament. Times Observer Photo by Steve Younger

CORRY — It was a tale of two halves for the Eisenhower boys basketball team as it defeated Clymer 54-37 in the first round of the Jim Gruca Memorial Christmas Tournament on Thursday night.

Both teams came out with cold shooting hands as the Pirates held an 8-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Clymer began to heat up and after back-to-back 3-pointers by Kaden Beckerink to open up a 20-14 lead, but Eisenhower’s Gavin Lindemuth and Austin Hanson both scored to close the gap but the Pirates held a 20-18 lead at the half.

Knights head coach Ryan Mangini had his team ready to play as the third quarter started as they went on a 17-2 run and their pressure defense held the pirates to just 9 points in the quarter to open up a 42-29 lead heading into the final period.

“We got off to a slow start, but our guys didn’t panic,” Mangini said. “Once we settled down, we played a good second half of basketball.”

Eisenhower used its lead to get some younger players in the game and outscored the Pirates 13-8 in the final quarter.

Clymer’s Kaden Beckerink led all scorers with 17 points. Lindemuth led the knights with 14 points.

In junior varsity action, the Knights edged Clymer 25-23. The knight’s Derek Guiher led all scorers with 15 points.

The junior varsity tournament championship game will be played at 4:30 p.m. today while the varsity championship game will tip off at 7 p.m. The Knights will face Corry, which knocked off Northwestern, in both games.

CLYMER (37)

White 1 0 3, Mihalko 0 0 0, Kopta 0 0 0, Einink 1 0 3, Dunnewold 0 0 0, Beckerink 6 0 17, Massing 3 0 6, Shampoe 0 0 0, Redlecki 2 0 4, Mitchell 0 0 0, Totals 15 0 37.

EISENHOWER (54)

Sobkowski 0 0 0 Black 3 1 7, Wonderling 0 0 0, Bunk 6 0 12, Seymour 3 1 7, Hanson 4 2 10, Guiher 1 1 4, Lindemuth 6 1 14, Totals 23 6 54.

3-point goals — White, Einink, Beckerink 5, Guiher, Lindemuth.

Clymer 8 12 9 8 — 37

Eisenhower 7 1 23 13 — 54