Staff photo / Preston Byers East’s Jeremiah Swain (5) goes up for a layup over a pair of Heartland Christian defenders during Friday’s game in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — Basketball is a game of runs, and in Friday’s matchup between Youngstown East and Heartland Christian, no run was more impactful than the Golden Bears’ over the final 12 minutes.

Although the Lions jumped out to an early, double-digit lead and increased their advantage for most of the game, East surged back with a 27-5 closing stretch to emerge victorious 61-56, ending its losing streak and prolonging Heartland Christian’s in the process.

“We started off slow. … At halftime, we weren’t making terrible mistakes; we just weren’t moving fast enough,” Bears head coach LaVance Turnage said. “They just got us on easy put backs and fast-break layups, so we had to limit their transition in order to get back into the game and win the game.”

The Lions, who had dropped four in a row after starting the season 10-0, opened Friday’s road game with a 12-2 run. East, beginning a trend, responded with a streak of its own, getting the deficit to just two before Heartland pushed its lead back to seven by the end of the first quarter.

In the second, the Lions enjoyed a 13-4 run over the course of three-and-half minutes, which helped them take a 39-28 lead into halftime.

The third quarter, as it would turn out, was a make-or-break period for the Bears, who briefly managed to get the deficit to single digits before the Lions went on a 10-2 run that put them up 51-34 with four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Despite the large lead, however, Isaiah Matthews’ field goal that gave Heartland its 17-point advantage would be his team’s last points for a long time.

While the Lions’ offense stalled, East heated up, and by the end of the third period, the Bears had trimmed their deficit to 10.

The difference between the teams only continued to dwindle early in the fourth as Heartland remained scoreless and East completed its comeback with a 17-0 run, which spanned from the 3:48 mark of the third quarter to 6:06 left in the fourth.

“We went cold,” Lions coach Josh Scott said. “I think we were trying to press a little too much on offense to get scores. They were making a little bit of a run and we were trying to make plays that are a little uncharacteristic of our offense.”

After a Lions timeout, their more than six-and-half-minute drought came to an end, as Brody Conaway made a bucket to give HC the lead once again.

East responded, though, with a three-point play by Tyris Davis, which gave the Bears their first lead of the game. Shortly thereafter, Jeremiah Swain made a free throw and Davis, who had a game-high 25 points on the night, missed a pair of foul shots and then redeemed himself to give East a 57-53 advantage with 1:19 remaining. Anthony Davis grew the lead to six with 33 seconds to go after stealing a pass and finishing a fast-break layup.

Collin Kalaher made a triple on the Lions’ next possession, pulling his team back within three, but another comeback was not in the cards for Heartland Christian, which turned the ball over and fouled Davis after he had missed both free throws. Davis made the subsequent pair to put the Bears up five and effectively ice the game with 8.6 seconds to go.

With the win, East (8-6) snapped a three-game losing streak. The Bears are scheduled to play only two games over the next two weeks; they visit Howland next Friday and host Akron North the Friday after that.

Meanwhile, Heartland Christian fell to 10-4 on the year. Each of the Lions’ four losses have come on the road, a trend they hope to stop on Tuesday, when they play at Valley Christian.

“It’s a really good learning experience,” Scott said of Friday’s loss. “But it’s just a hard way to have to learn.”