ST CLAIRSVILLE, OH- Twas a few nights before Christmas and John Jenkins Court in St. Clairsville was rocking with excitement as fans from both Beaver Local and St. Clairsville filled the gym. After a spirited junior varsity tilt that saw Beaver Local outlast St. Clairsville 64-63 in overtime, it was the varsity teams’ turn. A huge fourth quarter by the Beavers propelled them to a 78-69 victory over the Red Devils. “We were down by six, they made some huge three-pointers to start the quarter. We faced a lot of adversity in the first six games and it prepared us for tonight. We responded well and we stayed together, especially in that fourth quarter, “Beaver Local coach Nick Miller commented. Beaver Local was led by rising sophomore Owen Hill who had a double-double on the evening.
The Beavers took an early 7-2 lead to start the contest. Once the buzzer went off to end the first quarter, Beaver Local had a 17-15 lead. Senior Evan Stephanson led the Beavers in the first quarter with five points. Tyson Pastor led the Red Devils with seven. St Clairsville would respond at the start of the second quarter beginning the frame with a 7-0 run. The first half ended with the Red Devils taking a 34-32 lead into the half. Stephanson had ten first-half points for the Beavers and Pastor finished with 13 for the Red Devils. Beaver Local shot 57% from inside the arc and St. Clairsville, 50%. Neither team burned a timeout in the first half as well.
The second half began with Beaver Local taking the first few points of the half and then the two teams exchanged baskets. Gage Wolfe hit back-to-back threes for St. Clairsville a little over mid-way through the third quarter. Beaver Local brought the ball back up the court and took a timeout with 3:59 to go in the third and St Clairsville leading 42-40. A little over a minute later Beaver Local took a 46-45 lead and called another timeout. The Red Devils would not go away and responded after the Beaver Local timeout and took a 52-50 lead at the end of the three quarters. The fourth quarter was when all the fans got their money’s worth. Coach Miller turned up the pressure for his Beaver Local squad and forced a few Red Devil turnovers. Lone St Clairsville senior Cole Thoburn hit back-to-back threes for his team early in the quarter. He would finish with four threes in the final quarter and five for the game. The tide turned again however at the 4:06 mark of the quarter. Beaver Local’s Owen Hill hit a huge three and was fouled. He completed the four-point play to give Beaver Local a 64-63 advantage. Hill was spectacular all game, but especially in the fourth quarter scoring 12 of his 20 points in the final frame. At the 3:35 mark senior Austin Cline came up huge in the clutch getting fouled hard but still making the layup. He completed the three-point play to extend the Beavers’s lead to 67-63 forcing a St Clairsville timeout. The frustration continued to grow as the Red Devils were called for three violations from the foul line negating the made free throws and also leading to Coach Ryan Clifford’s technical foul with 1:11 to go. Beaver Local’s Hunter Warwick sunk both free throws from the technical foul. The final buzzer sounded and Beaver Local headed into the Christmas break with a huge victory over St. Clairsville to improve to 4-3 on the season. St Clairsville fell to 3-3.
Owen Hill’s double-double saw him finish the night with 20 points, 13 rebounds, a steal and a block. Austin Cline had 16 points, eight rebounds, an assist, and a block. Evan Stephanson completed the night with 16 points and a block. Hunter Warwick collected 13 points, four assists, and a steal. Senior Keaton Heddleston chipped in with six points while Taylor Johnston collected four points, a block, and a steal. Rounding out the scoring for the victorious Beavers was Luke Rettos with three points, four assists and a steal. Coach Miller commented on getting a huge win on the road, “The Buckeye 8 is loaded with talent. Up and down the river, both north and south have a lot of quality basketball teams. St Clairsville is very well coached, they have a lot of really good ball players, and we have a lot of respect for them. They actually knocked us out of the Sectional final down here last year so it felt good for these seniors and us to come down here and get a little redemption.”
The Red Devils were paced by Cole Thoburn with 26 points, nine rebounds, and two steals. Tyson Pastor collected 19 points, five rebounds, three assists, two blocks, and a steal. Brady Schafer had a nice night with 11 points, five rebounds and two steals. Gage Wolfe finished with 10 points, three rebounds, and an assist. Griffin Straub sunk a three-pointer and collected three rebounds and a block for St Clairsville. Beaver Local shot 50% from the field and St Clairsville shot 43%. Beaver Local controlled the boards pulling down 38 rebounds to St Clairsville’s.
After a break for Christmas, Beaver Local hits the road for another Buckeye 8 matchup. They’ll make the trip to Cadiz to take on Harrison Central. Tipoff is set for 7:30 on December 29, while St Clairsville remains at home on the 29th to take on Buckeye 8 foe, Indian Creek.
Photo by Kayla Crum
Story by Chris Thoburn
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