Martins Ferry Beats Buckeye Trail in 3A OVAC Championship Game
Selby Fuels Purple Riders, 64-47
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Martins Ferry sat atop the Ohio Valley Atheltic Conference Class 3A standings all season.
The Purple Riders showed Saturday afternoon that wasn’t by accident.
Using a dominating inside game — fueled by game MVP Zac Selby and senior Jack Davis — the Purple Riders put forth an impressive second half en route to claiming the Wheeling Hospital OVAC Class 3A Boys Basketball Championship, 64-47, against Buckeye Trail before a huge crowd at the Health and Physical Education Center on the campus of Ohio University Eastern.
“It’s a blessing,” first-year Purple Riders coach Derek Edwards said. “(The work toward this) started right after last season. The guys came in at 5 a.m. to get shots up and get in the weight room. It’s a long process, but the guys did a great job of putting in the work to get to this point. These are the rewards.”
For the Riders, the title has been a long time coming. It is their first since 2002 and first in the tournament era.
“We needed and wanted this OVAC title and everyone played great,” Selby said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve won one of these and all eight seniors dialed in on it. It’s a great feeling.”
Selby, who put forth maybe the best performance of his impressive career, went for 28 points and grabbed 16 rebounds en route to the John Howell Memorial MVP Award.
Davis, who had only two points at halftime, scored seven clutch points in the third. Included was one trip where he blocked a shot defensively, outraced everyone and was rewarded with a layup. He finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
“Zach and Jack really took over the game,” Edwards said. ”
Selby — and Davis — found much more space to operate on the interior in the middle of the second quarter and on. Buckeye Trail’s talented center, Jacob Doudna, went down with an injury and spent the remainder of the game with ice wrapped on his knee.
“You never want to see anyone get hurt and I wish the best to him,” the classy Edwards said. “It really opened up the paint for us. Not only for Zac and Jack, but also for our guards to get in there. It’s, unfortunately, part of the game. We definitely took advantage of that injuy.”
After watching the Warriors build a 31-26 lead at the half, the Riders unleashed a blitzkrieg on the Old Washington-based squad. Ferry’s first lead was short lived thanks to a Dylan Beaver 3-pointer. However, from there, the Riders took over.
They proceeded to go on a 17-3 run to blow the game open.
“I think at halftime, when we went into the locker room, everything (about Doudna’s injury) really sunk in,” Trail coach Gary Chumney said. “We were still playing with the fire and emotion in the first half, but it sunk in at halftime. On top of that, the matchups were tough because Selby is such a good player. Our kids battled and I am proud of that, but the mismatches just caught up with us.”
Along with what Selby and Davis were doing on the interior, the Riders also were able to get senior standout Darius Ray going. He scored 18 points despite struggling early from the field.
If the Purple Riders’ offensive output wasn’t enough, they didn’t get away from their calling card, which is at the defensive end of the floor. They limited Trail to 4 of 33 shooting in the second half and nary a field goal in the fourth quarter.
“Our defense was immaculate in the second half,” Edwards said. “It was an incredible effort. That’s been our MO all year and the guys bought into it. Holding a talented team like Trail without a field goal for an entire quarter is incredibly difficult to do.”
Buckeye Trail was paced by senior Troy Pontius and C.J. McCall. Each had 17. Pontius had the hot hand early, connecting on four first-half 3-pointers. McCall got in foul trouble in the second half before being disqualified.
Martins Ferry held a 42-29 edge on the glass. The Riders were guilty of 15 turnovers, which was one more than the Warriors.
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