St. Clairsville’s Brady Schafer dribbles the ball up the floor Tuesday night as Bellaire’s Luca D’Aquila pursues on John Jenkins Court inside St. Clairsville High School.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — With its style, grit, determination and playing tip to final buzzer mentality, there aren’t a lot of half-time deficits that Bellaire fears.

Case in point was Tuesday evening on John Jenkins Court at St. Clairsville High School when the Big Reds found themselves down by as many as 16 in the early moments of the second half.

Several St. Clairsville turnovers combined with even more made shots by the Bellaire and the Big Reds erased the deficit by the early stages of the fourth quarter, took the lead and then found a way to escape with a cherished 84-81 victory, snapping a lengthy losing streak to the Red Devils.

“It wasn’t looking real good (for us) in the first half, but (the pressure) wears on you,” Bellaire head coach J.R. Battista said. “At Bellaire, we don’t always have a lot, or the best of everything, but what we have is a lot of guys who have a lot of heart, grit and toughness. Sometimes it works out and you’re able to squeeze one that you shouldn’t have gotten.”

Those attributes were on clear display, especially after the Red Devils (1-4) had built a 38-25 lead at halftime.

“They’re a veteran team and for whatever reason, our gym brings out the best in a lot of people,” St. C. head coach Ryan Clifford said. “It was a high energy, high-intensity game. Give Bellaire credit. They made the plays down the stretch and we didn’t.”

Part of the reason the Red Devils didn’t make those plays was a relentless pressure defense applied by Bellaire, which saw St. C. commit 13 turnovers in the third quarter when the winners made their biggest charge.

Still, however, St. Clairsville had chances in the fourth. The Devils owned a 66-62 lead with just over four minutes to play, but the Big Reds got an inside bucket and a trey from junior Mayson Sochor, who pumped in 20 of his team-high 24 in the second half, to retake the lead.

The Devils responded with the next four, but Bellaire didn’t wilt. Senior Jakob Dowling hit a 3 from the corner and then Sochor got a pair at the line and St. Clairsville didn’t get the lead back.

Bellaire nursed an 82-81 lead after failing to convert on three of four foul shots, but senior Joey Lewis, who was called upon after a Big Red had fouled out, picked off a pass, which was St. C.’s 32nd turnover of the game. Lewis kissed home a free throw for the final reading.

St. Clairsville’s final shot was basically blocked and came up well short, setting off a Big Reds celebration.

“For the most part, I thought St. C. did a great job of handling our pressure,” Battista said. “As hard as it is to believe, I didn’t really yell at anyone at halftime. I am not going to say I thought we were in a good spot, but I knew we hadn’t played well yet and we hadn’t been able to really amp up the pressure. We got it going in the third quarter, and God bless Joey Lewis for knocking down a free throw when we needed it.”

In the first half, St. Clairsville turned the pressure into easy scoring chances much of the time and junior Cole Thoburn and sophomore Tyson Pastor benefitted. They combined for 23 points in the opening 16 minutes.

“We had a chance to get away from them a little bit, but we didn’t execute well enough,” Clifford said. “I felt the end of the second quarter was a big stretch. It felt like we should have been up by more at half, but we weren’t. I thought we executed at a high level in the first half, but never really did in the second half.”

The Big Reds received double-figure scoring from four of their five starters. Sochor’s production was backed by Dowling, who posted 23 points. Ray Ray Pettigrew, who was the defensive spark plug, finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and six steals. Mac Mac Pettigrew, who was held scoreless in the first half and battled foul trouble throughout, finished with 11.

“Every kid has a role that helps us,” Battista said. “They all played well and we’ll take it.”

St. Clairsville, meanwhile, was led by Thoburn, who finished with 28 points. Pastor went for 25 and seven, while sophomore point guard Brady Schafer added eight points and five rebounds.

All told, the Red Devils held a 31-28 edge on the glass, but Bellaire committed just 20 turnovers.

Bellaire (2-0) is on the road again on Friday at Cambridge, while the Red Devils return to action Saturday at noon in the Buckeye 8 Challenge at Harrison Central against Meadowbrook.