photo by: Kim North

St. Clairsville’s Kaden Clifford (5) leaps to try and block a shot by Martins Ferry’s Maurice Barnett (4) Thursday night inside the Tolbert Gymnasium. The Red Devils earned a regular-season sweep of the Purple Riders, 61-52.

MARTINS FERRY – During the course of a high school basketball season, a team is going to need someone off the bench to step up at crunch time. Griffin Pastor was that player for St. Clairsville Thursday night.

The 6-3 junior came off the bench with the Red Devils (9-2) short on players and scored 14 points – including 12 on four bonus bombs – to spark his team to a 61-52 repeat victory over host Martins Ferry inside a raucous Tolbert Gymnasium. St. Clairsville had prevailed, 86-85, in double overtime in the season-opener on John Jenkins Court.

With senior standout Griffin Straub on the bench in foul trouble and junior Luke Schafer out with an ankle injury he sustained in the second quarter, Pastor drilled half of his trifectas in the fourth quarter when St. Clairsville took Martins Ferry’s best shot before pulling away.

“Griffin Pastor played by far the best game of his career,” St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford assessed. “There was a point with Straub in foul trouble and Schafer out with an ankle injury where I thought about going outside and throwing some ice in the parking lot, but we sucked it up and were mentally tough. This was a big win on the road.”

Straub, a NCAA Division II signee with Indiana, Pa., scored six early points as the Red Devils raced out to an 18-10 lead after one quarter. However, he picked up his third foul 21 seconds into the second quarter and didn’t return until the start of the third quarter.

During that time, Martins Ferry (6-4) sliced the deficit to 28-24 at the half as Anthony Booth knocked down a pair of triples and Eli Smith added five points.

Following a nip-and-tuck third quarter, Martins Ferry drew even at 42 with 6:30 left to play on an offensive rebound by Maurice Barnett.

However, Brody Clifford broke the deadlock with a pair of free throws that jump-started a 9-0 run that Pastor punctuated with a dagger from the left wing. By the time the Purple Riders scored again, three minutes had run off the clock and back-to-back turnovers aided the scoring advantage.

“We are mentally tough. That’s our mentality. We don’t make excuses,” Clifford continued. “We showed up ready to play tonight.”

With Martins Ferry within five, 52-47, Pastor nailed his final trey from the right wing as the margin increased to 55-47. Senior Ollie Muhly sandwiched four consecutive free throws around a conventional basket by Pastor to stave off the hosts.

“We’re not in sync on the offensive end and that has a lot to do with not being together as a team,” Martins Ferry head coach Derek Edwards said of his short-handed squad that once again played without starting point guard Gavin Little. “I love the way my team fought. I thought we fought for four quarters.

“Our goal is not to win a game on January 8th. Our goal is to play deep into March,” Edwards added. “I liked the way we scratched and clawed. They had a couple of kids step up that don’t normally score a lot, but that’s a credit to them. They knocked down the shots when they needed to.”

Despite sitting on the bench for quite some time, the 6-7 Straub led St. Clairsville with 17 points. He was joined in double figures by Pastor, while Niko Jacob and Muhly evenly divided 20 markers. Straub and Jacob had seven rebounds each, while the Clifford cousins – Brody and Kaden – had six each.

Smith led all scorers in the game with 23 points and completed his double-double with 14 rebounds. Booth checked in with eight points, one more than Barnett.

The two teams recorded 33 rebounds each and Martins Ferry had five more turnovers at 13-8. St. Clairsville was 20-for-51 from the floor and a mere 17 of 29 from the foul line. Meanwhile, Martins Ferry checked in at 19-for 55 and 9 of 12, respectively.

Both are back on the hardwood tonight as Martins Ferry hosts Ohio 7 rival Bellaire, while St. Clairsville travels to Barnesville.