photo by: Kim North

St. Clairsville’s Luke Schafer shoots for two of his career-high 39 points Tuesday night in a 67-58 victory over Union Local inside ‘The Hangar’ in Morristown.

MORRISTOWN – The last name Schafer has a long affiliation with Union Local athletics.

However, it was one of those alumni’s sons that did in the Jets Tuesday night.

Luke Schafer scored a career-high 39 points in leading St. Clairsville to a 67-58 decision over Union Local inside ‘The Hangar’ before a jam-packed crowd.

“The whole side of his family played here. I saw his name (Jeremy) on the wall. I saw my uncle’s name (Justin) on the wall,” the 6-2 sophomore said. “My grandfather retired out this way.

“It just felt like a normal night. I prepared well in practice.”

Schafer came into the contest averaging just 12 points, but eclipsed that mark with 20 points in the first half. He finished 15 of 21 from the floor and knocked down 7 of 11 free throws.

“He’s been a good player for us since the time he was in second grade,” St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford said of Schafer. “We know he has that in him. We’ve been waiting for him to have a coming out party, and tonight was that night.”

Clifford said Schafer’s defense in a loss on Monday was what really got him ready for Tuesday night.

“He played exceptional defense on a kid from Delphos St. John that is going to Furman,” the Red Devils’ coach said. “That really got his confidence level up and he continued that tonight on the offensive end.”

Schafer netted 11 points in the first quarter when the Red Devils (6-1) sprinted to a 19-14 lead after holding a 12-2 margin. He added nine in the second quarter and four in the third before adding 15 in the fourth that helped stem the Jets’ run.

“I told Ryan after the game that there have been a lot of points scored by Schafer’s in this gym, but they were always wearing a Union Local jersey,” Union Local head coach Zach Delman said. “Hats off to him. He played a great game. You can’t take that away from him.

“The frustrating part for me, as a coach, is we scout players to see what their strengths and weaknesses are, and we let him get to his strength, his left hand, all night long,” Delman noted. “He got to it whenever he wanted to and we didn’t do a very good job of stopping him even though we have worked on it the last couple of days.”

St. Clairsville led 37-25 at the half but watched the Jets pull to within three, 46-43, with one quarter to go.

“We had the ball down by three and we got called for the backcourt violation,” Delman recalled. “We were on a great run at the time, but the slow start really hurt. You can’t start the way we did and expect to win a lot of games, especially at home. We dug ourselves a hole and put ourselves in a tough spot.”

A 10-0 run to start the final eight minutes sealed the deal for St. Clairsville as Schafer netted 15 of his team’s 21 points in the final panel.

Griffin Straub added 14 points and seven rebounds for St. Clairsville, while Nico Jacob grabbed a game-best 12 rebounds, with eight coming off the offensive glass.

“Nico is the kind of player every good team needs,” Coach Clifford said. “He does the dirty work inside.”

Behind that effort, St. Clairsville led 27-18 on the boards. It also had three less turnovers with 11.

Bam Porter sparked the Jets rally with 19 of his 21 points in the second half, including five bonus bombs. Jacob Stroud added 14 markers, while Brody Gregor pulled down five rebounds.