The Patriots battled back from a double-digit deficit to have a shot to tie in the game’s closing seconds, but the Red Devils held on to snag their 15th win of the season.

Before the game though, all attention was on St. Clairsville’s four seniors– Griffin Straub, Ollie Muhly, Niko Jacob and Kaden Clifford.

“Senior night’s always tough,” St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford said. “This one’s a little harder than most because one of them is my son and I’ve had these kids since they were in the second grade, so, this was a tough thing to get going here tonight. But, they’ve meant the world to the program. They’ve stuck it out. They had good players play in front of them and they waited their turn and, you know, it’s paying off right now.”

Griffin Straub turned in a monster 22-point, 14-rebound performance, making four 3-pointers and blocking three shots.

“If we’re going to the places we want to go, that’s the output he’s going to give us,” Clifford said of Straub’s performance.

“He’s a really good player and for him to put on that performance, especially in the first half on senior night, he was everywhere. I don’t know how many rebounds he had, but it felt like a lot in the second half, especially at the defensive end. We go as he goes. That’s no secret. That’s not giving away any intel. He’s a college player for a reason.”

After Wheeling Park took a lead in the opening minutes, St. Clairsville eventually legged ahead 10-9, and never trailed again– though not for lack of trying by the invading Patriots.

St. C. led 32-25 at the half, and 50-44 after three quarters, but Wheeling Park pulled within four with five minutes to play, 55-51.

Brody Clifford and Straub each put through pivotal 3-pointers down the stretch to keep St. C. ahead, and Luke Schafer was tasked with all but one of the trips to the foul line inside two minutes as Park tried to extend the game and hope for misses from the stripe late. Schafer shot 6-8 from the line, but the door was open for Wheeling Park with 15 seconds left, down 64-61. A tying 3-point try clanged off the iron though, and two more free throws with three seconds to play iced the game for the Red Devils.

“We gave ourselves a chance at the end,” Wheeling Park head coach Michael Jebbia said. “Obviously Straub really got it going in the first half, but I thought in the second half it was the role players that made some key plays. Schafer played very well. Muhly, Jacob, Brody Clifford made a few 3’s. They hit timely threes on us when we were cutting into the lead.

“Our kids played until the final buzzer. We had the ball down three with a chance. But I thought really the key in the second half was St. Clairsville’s timely 3’s. Two by Clifford, one by Muhly and one by Straub. I think they hit four threes on us– each time we got it down to five or six, they took it back to eight or nine. They played a nice game and obviously they’re a good shooting team, even better at home.”

Josh Huffman led Wheeling Park with 21 points, hitting contested jump shots from all around the court Tuesday.

“He just scored 31 points in the OVAC finals,” Jebbia said of Huffman. “He had it going there and, you know, JD hit some shots, Josh hit some shots. We just kept playing just a little bit too much of a deep hole to get fully back, but, you know, on to the next one. But give credit to St. Clairsville.”

“Give them credit, I thought we did a heck of a job playing defense and they made some really tough shots to stay in the game,” Clifford said of Wheeling Park. “Thinking of a couple in particular with Huffman off the dribble with a guy in his face, made a couple. But, you know, we were pretty solid at the free-throw line. As the games get more important here coming up, you gotta be able to close out games. And I thought we did a pretty good job of it.”

For the visitors, JD Williams scored 15 and grabbed a five rebounds. Jordan Beck-James scored 10, while Kolten Whitmire had the team-high in rebounds and assists with eight and five, respectively.

Niko Jacob had 13 for St. Clairsville, Schafer scored 12, and Muhly had 10 points with five assists.

Jacob made his mark on the boards as well, collecting six offensive rebounds– including four in the first quarter alone.

“I thought Jacob was really key for them in some spots just being around the rim,” Jebbia said.

“That’s been his thing all year, when they have to send help off of him, because Griffin garners a lot of attention,” Clifford said of Jacob’s rebounding. “He does a great job of making them pay for it by being around the basket and offensive rebounding. Plays with relentless energy and, you know, I’m sure glad he is on our team.”

St. Clairsville travels to Steubenville for their next game, set for Feb. 24. Wheeling Park next faces Morgantown on the road on Feb. 20.