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Maroon Knights Take Off In Fourth Quarter For Win vs. Red Devils

By NICK HENTHORN 4 min read

CADIZ - A tightly contested first three quarters gave way to a lopsided fourth Saturday in Wheeling Central and St. Clairsville's matchup at the Buckeye 8 Challenge inside Harrison Central High School, the Maroon Knights pulling away late for a 77-58 victory.

Leading by a single point going into the final period, 51-50, Wheeling Central outscored St. Clairsville 26-8 in the fourth to end with a comfortable advantage.

"In the first half we just weren't quite ready to play," Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens said. "They're a good team, they've got some kids who can score and we just didn't do a very good job. Defensively we didn't do bad, gave up 35 which is not great, but offensively I think we struggled a little bit.

"We took some bad shots, I thought we had a size advantage and when we did that in the first half we were successful, then we got away from it a little bit. The third quarter we were able to get back into the game and get the lead at the end of the quarter, then we came out and played."

Tyler Dean scored all nine of his points in the fourth quarter, getting out for transition layups as the fastbreak was a weighty component of the Knights' big final quarter.

"I thought Eli Dean off the bench kept us in the game in the first half," Stephens said. "And then Tyler Dean in the second half hit some big shots, ran the floor and we were able to get the ball to him for layups which was huge. That gave us the opportunity to stretch the lead a little bit."

Eli Dean scored all 11 of his points in the second quarter, hitting two 3-pointers in the period. Dean's scoring buoyed Wheeling Central while the Red Devils were going for the throat, taking a 15-14 lead on the first basket of the second quarter and leading 35-33 at halftime, a larger deficit staved off by Eli Dean's timely baskets.

After surviving three quarters, the Knights allowed only eight points in the fourth quarter, keeping the Red Devils off the glass to limit their scoring chances, and bruising them on the interior on the other end.

Eli Sancomb finished with a team-high 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, the principle culprit in Wheeling Central's rebounding racket.

"He's had 20-something points every game but rebounding-wise, he's big enough to do that at a high level too," Stephens said of his sophomore wing player. "With the matchups, he was more underneath the bucket where he could get some rebounds. We need him to rebound, we need Max [Olejasz] to rebound, we need Isaac Schmitt to rebound.

"That was big, I thought in the second half we were able to control the boards a little bit, give them one shot and then get out and push a little bit."

Wheeling Central outrebounded St. Clairsville 38-20 on the day.

St. C. was keeping the Knights on the ropes through the first three quarters, and the first half especially. Cole Thoburn kept the Red Devils flowing from one quarter to the other with baskets to finish off both the first and the second.

The senior converted a tough layup through two defenders in the final seconds of the first quarter to bring his team within one point, 14-13, and Thoburn hit a stepback 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play in the second quarter which put the Red Devils ahead 35-33 going into the locker rooms.

Thoburn finished with 22 points and three steals, while Tyson Pastor scored 21 with six rebounds, the two combining for all but 15 of St. C.'s points.

The Maroon Knights' Max Olejasz and the Red Devils' Griffin Straub each had three blocks.

Wheeling Central's Jeremy Ratcliffe was named the game's MVP, scoring 18 points and grabbing six rebounds, scoring 10 in the third quarter alone.

"Jeremy's kind of the forgotten guy some this year, people are focused on Q, focused on Eli, but Jeremy can play," Stephens said. "We were able to get him the ball in areas where he can make those shots."

Wheeling Central next plays at Latrobe on Dec. 19, while St. Clairsville travels to face Cambridge that same day.

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