St. C. Outlasts Oak Glen
Red Devils hold off furious Bears rally
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NEW MANCHESTER -- St. Clairsville came out of the locker room blazing and held a 12-point lead when it went back in at halftime. Then, it held off a furious rally by homestanding Oak Glen to win, 79-66, on Tuesday night in an OVAC Class 4A semifinal inside the Oak Glen Fieldhouse.
The win advances the Red Devils, who are the No. 3 seed, into the championship game at noon Saturday at Ohio University against top-seeded Meadowbrook, which also advanced with a victory against East Liverpool.
"We thought we could use our speed and we wanted to take it to them inside," said victorious coach Ryan Clifford, whose club is 15-5. "We also like to move the ball side-to-side and get the open outside shots, too, and we also were able to do that."
Brett Vike drained four 3-pointers while Craig Bober and Matt Busby drove down the lane and also drove the baseline repeatedly, to lead the Red Devils with 21, 20 and 13 points, respectively.
While St. Clairsville built the 12-point halftime lead, veteran Oak Glen coach Jerry Everly felt it was the 10-4 advantage the Red Devils had in the first three minutes of the second half that ultimately proved to be too much for his Golden Bears, the two seed, to overcome.
That early second-half spurt by the Red Devils gave them their biggest lead at 53-35 with 5:06 showing on the third-period clock.
"I think early on we weren't ready for their quickness to the basket," Everly said. "We were reaching a lot and several guys got into foul trouble pretty early. One of our best defenders, Zack Taylor, got two fouls very early, and that hurt us. I thought we got settled down in the second half and handled it better.
"But they played real well and did what you have to do by going to the rim and hitting the outside shots when they got them. I tip my hat to them. They had a real good game."
The Golden Bears, though, turned it on in the final five minutes of the third quarter and had the gym rocking. They outscored St. Clairsville, 20-7, with senior center Ethan Travis tallying 11 of his game-high 27 points in the quarter. The two teams went into the fourth with St. Clairsville clinging to a 60-55 advantage.
"We have five seniors and a veteran team," Clifford said. "Plus, we play a lot of the bigger schools around to get experience for games like this and the one we'll see Saturday and in the sectionals.
''That experience allowed these kids to keep their poise and withstood that rally. Oak Glen is a very good team, but we kept our cool and stayed with the game plan in the fourth quarter. It's a big win for us."
The Red Devils quieted the crowd somewhat when they opened the final eight minutes with a 7-0 run on two foul shots by Busby, a 3 by David Lane and another driving layup by Busby.
Oak Glen got an old-fashioned three-point from Travis. Bober then drove to the hoop for a deuce to make the score 69-58 with 4:49 left.
From there, the Red Devils slowly pulled away, making 5 of 7 free throws with another 3 by Vike sprinkled in for good measure. With the St. Clairsville speed and Oak Glen having to foul going down the stretch, the Red Devils went to the foul line 35 times and made 22 of them. The Golden Bears were 11 of 16 from the line.
Oak Glen will play East Liverpool in a consolation game Friday night.
Justin Heatherington, who also slashed to the hoop for some key goals, finished in double figures for St. Clairsville with 11 points
Travis, who is being recruited by several Division-III colleges, finished with another double-double. He added 17 rebounds to his 27 points. He swished two 3-pointers and also had a couple of blocks and a steal.
Taylor, who ended up fouling out midway through the fourth quarter, added 12 points.