Photo by Nick Henthorn Martins Ferry’s Alex Reese rises up for a shot against Wheeling Central during their game Monday inside Tolbert Gymnasium. Reese scored 24 points though Central won 70-54.

MARTINS FERRY – Less than 10 days since Martins Ferry and Wheeling Central last squared off, the Maroon Knights and Purple Riders were at it again, this time at Tolbert Gymnasium in Martins Ferry High School.

After winning their prior meeting, Central made it two-for-two Monday with a 70-54 victory over Ferry.

Wheeling Central star junior forward Eli Sancomb was front-and-center in the win, finishing with 34 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in a staf-stuffing evening.

“He can score the ball really well whether it’s the perimeter or at the rim,” Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens said. “But the best part of his game really is his ability to see guys and get them some really good chances to score.”

Martins Ferry’s own star, senior big man Alex Reese, scored 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds while drawing plenty of attention all night.

“Defensively, Alex Reese is a handful in there and we tried sending help as much as we could,” Stephens said. “They do a good job of spacing the floor and being able to isolate him down there. I give our guys credit, Nico Kusic battled with him down there, Eli [Sancomb] battled with him, and Max [Olejasz] did a little bit when he was on him. If you can hold him down, I like our chances against the rest of those guys.”

While Central would eventually pull away, the opening quarter was a lively back-and-forth, with Reese and Sancomb each exhibiting tough shot-making ability on stepbacks and fadeaways. There were six lead changes in the free-flowing first quarter, and it ended in a 17-17 tie.

Martins Ferry took the lead back to start the second quarter, and built a six-point lead, 25-19, but fast break points helped Central back in it, with Sancomb and Olejasz each securing quick-hitters in a 12-2 run that put the Maroon ahead 31-27.

The Knights’ Braxton Billick hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put Wheeling Central ahead 38-29 at the half. Billick was a difference maker in sparking the Knights’ fastbreaks on defense.

“Truthfully I think it was Braxton Billick coming off the bench,” Stephens said, when asked what got his team going in the second quarter. “He hit a big 3, but it was more of the stuff on the defensive end. He came up with a couple loose balls, he was on the floor, he gave us that energy off the bench that gave us a push. Then in the second half we were able to maintain that.”

The Purple Rider could never pull closer than eight points in the second half. Despite the loss, Martins Ferry’s head coach Derek Edwards remained proud of his team’s effort.

“We fought,” Edwards said. “I thought we executed a lot better than our last game at both ends.

“Right now, defensively we’re struggling. We’ve got to play smarter with leads. I wanted to see how hard we played down the stretch there even though we were down, and our players, for four quarters, played their tails off. Even though through the course of the game the execution isn’t where it needs to be, I thought we played our tails off. Sometimes it doesn’t work out your way.”

Following Reese in the scoring column, Elijah Smith scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds, while Maurice Barnett and Tev’n Williams each had eight.

Tyler Dean scored a dozen for Wheeling Central, while Olejasz had eight points and seven rebounds and Kusic had nine points.

Wheeling Central outrebounded Martins Ferry 30-21 and had 11 assists to Ferry’s seven.

“I thought we did some things to us in the first game that we kind of adjusted to a little bit,” Stephens said. “At times, we did that.

“We still have some struggles on the offensive end as far as defining what’s a really good shot every possession. But they’re playing hard and that’s really all you can ask, to play hard, try to make the right decisions. It’s only game four, we’ve got a long way to go and we have time to improve.”

Central (3-0) remains on the road for their next game against Monroe Central on Jan. 3. Martins Ferry (3-3) travels to face Indian Valley on Dec. 27.