photo by: Kim North

Union Local’s Bill Schumacher (13) takes a charge against Martins Ferry’s Maurice Barnett during Wednesday night’s Ohio Division V Eastern District semifinal inside the ECO Center. Barnett scored 17 points to lift the Purple Riders to a 58-48 triumph over the Jets.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – Meeting for the second time in less than two weeks, Martins Ferry and Union Local faced off Wednesday night with a berth in the Ohio Division V Eastern District boys basketball championship game on Saturday.

The No. 5 Purple Riders (12-11) snapped a 7-all stalemate in the first quarter with an 8-0 surge that extended into the early stages of the second quarter and then held on in posting a 58-48 upset of the No. 4 Jets (17-7) before an overflow crowd inside the ECO Center in the lid-lifter of an all-Belmont County doubleheader.

With the cherished win, Martins Ferry will meet top-seeded St. Clairsville Saturday inside the ‘Huskies’ House’ at Harrison Central High School in Cadiz with a berth in the regional semifinals at Ohio University on the line. That game will tip at 7.

“You can’t take these moments for granted because you’ve got to beat some really good teams to get here,” Martins Ferry head coach Derek Edwards said of reaching the district finals. “They had just beat us not too long ago, but I am so pleased with our defensive effort and our effort on the glass. Those two things were the difference in the game.”

Union Local grabbed a 16-15 advantage on a leaner in the lane by Dre Saunders with 3:40 left in the first half, but Martins Ferry ran off 18 of the next 20 points and never looked back in building a 33-18 lead midway through the third quarter.

Tev’n Williams and Maurice Barnett did most of the damage by combining for 12 of the points, all coming on bonus goals. Martins Ferry drained five three-pointers in the game.

The Jets displayed that never-say-die attitude and crept to within four, 37-33, in the waning stages of the third quarter. Brandon Mehl had half of the points in a 12-2 run to end the quarter.

The lead fluctuated between four and six points for much of the final eight minutes, but the Purple Riders netted the final six for the win.

“It’s disappointing that on a stage like this, we didn’t play well and I didn’t coach well,” Delman assessed. “Ferry played excellent defense and I thought we played well defensively until we had to start speeding things up. Obviously, when you’re speeding things up, you’re going to leave people open

Youngstown State University football recruit Alex Reese led the Purple Riders with 19 points, 11 rebounds and blocked five shots. However, Barnett (17) and Williams (14) teamed for 31 more to spark the victory.

Saunders finished his Jets career with 17 points. Bill Schumacher had five of Union Local’s 17 rebounds as Martins Ferry held a commanding, 33-17, advantage off the glass. Eli Smith also snagged 11 boards for the Purple Riders.

Union Local made 19 of 47 shots from the floor and was a chilly 5-for-22 from long distance.

“When Reese is on the floor it’s not easy to get to the hole or get shots off from the perimeter because they can do a lot of things they wouldn’t be able to if he wasn’t on the floor. This is a tough place to shoot, but I’m not making excuses because they made some big shots.”

Delman was holding back his emotions as he spoke about this group, especially the seniors.

“This is two years in a row that we have had our season ended by them,” he recalled. “It hurts to know that we didn’t play our best. This group has shown a lot of character in their careers. They were so much fun to be around.”