Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Gavin Little (1) dribbles the ball up the floor Thursday night while St. Clairsville’s Gage Wolfe trails. Little was one of four Purple Riders in double digits in a 72-61 victory over homestanding St. Clairsville on John Jenkins Court. He had 10 points.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — With his bench depleted by injuries, Martins Ferry head coach Derek Edwards opted to play his starting five all 32 minutes Thursday night against St. Clairsville.

Four of the five scored in double figures as the Purple Riders (6-8) continue to make a strong bid for the fourth – and final – OVAC Class 4A playoff berth with a convincing, 72-61, victory over St. Clairsville on John Jenkins Court in front of a packed house.

“I’m happy for our team. Early on this season we dealt with a lot of adversity and I’m so proud of how they kept coming (to practice) every day, trying to get better and trying to do what we’re trying to coach them to do,” Edwards said. “All of the credit goes to them and their efforts.

“I’m very proud of my team tonight.”

St. Clairsville had won the previous meeting, 69-48 a couple of weeks back. The Red Devils had their 8-game win streak snapped, as well.

“They played pretty good and we stunk,” admitted St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford. “Sometimes when you win a bunch in a row you start to feel good about yourselves and you can get humbled just like we did tonight. The only good thing about tonight is that this game really didn’t mean much, except for pride.

“We play for something (a Buckeye 8 championship) on Saturday against a good East Liverpool team. We’ll need to re-group really quick.”

The first quarter was filled with scoring runs by both squads as the lead changed hands four times. After the Red Devils took a 2-0 lead, the Purple Riders reeled off the next eight – all by 6-6 Alex Reese – only to watch the hosts take a 12-8 advantage. Five quick points from sophomore Elijah Smith gave the visitors a 13-12 edge, but Tyson Pastor pushed St. Clairsville back ahead, 14-13. Late buckets by Reese and Tev’n Williams gave Martins Ferry a 17-14 lead it would never relinquish.

Point guard Gavin Little led a second quarter surge that saw the Purple Riders lead by as many as eight midway through the period. They held a 36-29 margin at the half.

The advantage grew to a game-high 16, 52-36, late in the third quarter as Maurice Barnett knocked down seven of his 17 and Reese chipped in with half-a-dozen. Martins Ferry shot 70 percent (7-10) in the quarter and connected on a sizzling 60 percent (32-53) of its shots for the game.

“We were able to get the ball side-to-side, inside-outside,” Edwards explained. “We’ve got a lot of good shooters. We really do. We’ve got a lot of confidence in each and every kid. They were great shots and, typically when you take good shots, they go in.”

The Red Devils (10-3) scored the final five points of the third quarter to make it 52-41, but a 7-2 spurt to start the fourth quarter all but sealed the deal even though the hosts ran off nine straight to pull to within seven, 59-52, but could get no closer.

“We didn’t play with any effort or energy,” Clifford noted. “We’ll need a championship effort Saturday night.”

Reese, a Youngstown State football recruit, posted a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Barnett and Smith evenly split 34 markers. Williams finished with six.

“It was all five guys tonight. A total team effort,” Edwards stressed. “Everybody did their job.”

Pastor led St. Clairsville with 19, with 14 of those coming in the second half. Brady Schafer added 16 and Griffin Straub had nine points and four blocks. Pastor led with seven rebounds.

Martins Ferry finished with 11 turnovers, two more than St. Clairsville.