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CADIZ - Coming into Saturday afternoon's OVAC Class 3A championship game, Martins Ferry head coach Derek Edwards stressed to his team that it must avoid allowing too many momentum plays.
Those momentum plays are exactly what Linsly thrives on and Edwards' fear became reality, especially during the latter stretch of the second quarter when the Cadets blew the game open and went on to post a 70-54 victory over the top-seeded Purple Riders inside Harrison Central High School.
During the stretch, the Purple Riders committed turnovers on four consecutive possessions, all of which led to Linsly buckets, including a highly impressive dunk by senior Nate Coleman.
Compounding matters, Linsly missed what looked like what was going to be its final shot of the half and Martins Ferry rebounded, but an ill-advised pass was picked off by junior Will Taylor, who promptly buried a deep trey at the buzzer, making it a 41-25 game at the half.
"The shot at the half, no doubt, gave us a little bit more momentum," Linsly head coach Dave Wojcik said. "We wanted to wear them down. I thought our kids did a really good job, especially off the bench, in getting to (Ferry's) legs."
As he walked off the court at halftime, all Edwards could do was shake his head with how the end of the second quarter transpired.
"Linsly shot very well, especially in the first half from 3," Edwards said. "They had momentum plays, which hurt. We didn't turn the ball over a lot, but that stretch in the second quarter really got the game in their favor, which caused us to have to adjust and do some things we didn't necessarily want to do."
Though the Purple Riders cut down on their miscues in the second half, the hole was simply too deep to climb out of because Linsly continued to make shots. All told, the Cadets knocked down 10 bonus goals and had eight different players find the scoring column.
However, it was senior Gavin Jackson, who repeated as the winner of the John Howell MVP winner, who Ferry truly had no answer for. He scored 25 and made 10 of 18 from the field.
"Gavin has done a heck of a job all year, but he's really been playing at a high level the last two weeks," Wojcik said. "I am very excited for him because he's worked hard and deserves that success."
Ferry the lead down 11 a couple of times, but could never fully get over the hump to swing the momentum.
"Anytime we got back within striking distance, we either made an error or they made a play," Edwards said. "You simply can't have those errors against a team like that because Linsly went down and made us pay for it. They're a really, really good team, but our guys played their tails off and didn't leave anything on the court."
Along with Jackson's production, Linsly received 12 points from senior Carter Anderson. Taylor added nine and Coleman finished with eight.
Martins Ferry was led once again by its talented one-two-punch of senior Denali Jackson and sophomore Alex Reese. While both were once again solid with 18 and 16, respectively, they were both held below their average, which is something Wojcik believed would be critical.
"We did a good job defensively on both Reese and Denali," Wojcik said. "Give the kids the credit. They followed the game plan and did what we asked them to do."
The win gave Linsly its second consecutive conference crown and eighth in school history, while denying the Purple Riders their first title since 2017.
"All of the credit goes to the kids," Wojcik said. "They put the work in during the offseason and then all season to get to this point. I am really happy with how we bounced back during a tough, emotional week."
Linsly's week included a road victory at Caldwell in the semifinals, but it fell to rival Wheeling Central, at the buzzer, at home on Thursday. The Cadets really showed no ill effects despite being less than 48 hours removed from their last outing.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Martins Ferry is now 17-2, but both of its losses have come in trophy games. The Riders fell last month to Harrison Central in the Buckeye 8 title game.
"As bad as this hurts, we have to take the positives out of this and there are a lot of positives that come from this game," Edwards said.