Photo by Kim North St. Clairsville’s Griffin Straub throws down a two-handed dunk late in the fourth quarter Tuesday night against Steubenville on John Jenkins Court. Straub had 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Red Devils pulled out a hard-fought 71-69 decision over Big Red.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Two of the Ohio Valley’s heavyweights went toe-to-toe Tuesday night in a dandy boys’ basketball contest on John Jenkins Court.

After 11 ties and 14 lead changes in the second half alone, St. Clairsville earned a hard-fought, 71-69, decision over visiting Steubenville before a standing-room-only crowd that was packed inside St. Clairsville High School.

“Two really good teams challenging each other at the end of the year. That’s a game these guys will be able to look back on in 15 years and talk about,” St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford said. “We’ve played a lot of good games in this gym, and that one ranks right up there. I’m exhausted.”

The teams were deadlocked for the final time at 64 before the Red Devils (12-3) went on a pivotal 7-5 game-ending run.

“We just came up a couple points short. It was a great atmosphere and a great high school basketball game,” Steubenville head coach Mike Haney said. “That’s the way high school basketball is supposed to be.”

Griffin Straub gave St. Clairsville the lead for good, 66-64, with a twisting drive to the basket with a little more than a minute remaining. Following a Big Red miss, Gage Wolfe was fouled and made the second shot to extend the margin to 67-64 with 43 ticks showing.

Two free throws by Straub bumped the count to 69-64 at the 31.3-second mark, but Steubenville’s Aiden Davis banked in a runner in the lane for a 69-66 reading and Steubenville called time with 22.9 left. A jump ball favored the visitors with 19.6 on the clock, but Big Red turned the ball over seconds later before fouling St. Clairsville’s Ollie Muhly with 12.2 left.

Muhly missed the front end of the two-shot foul, but tickled the twine on the second as the lead increased to 70-66.

After a timeout by the Red Devils, Davis buried a try from the right corner for a 70-69 deficit as Haney called timeout with 3.8 on the clock. Pastor was fouled on the inbounds pass and also hit 1-of-2 free throws. A three-point attempt by Davis at the buzzer was slightly off the mark as the St. Clairsville faithful stormed the court.

“They are an outstanding basketball team,” Clifford said of Steubenville. It took maximum effort on every play from every guy to come out ahead.

The loss snapped a 12-game win streak for Steubenville (12-2) which hadn’t lost since opening night to New Lexington.

“In a one possession game, you can look back at any stage of the game and say this or that was the deciding factor,” Haney added. “We allowed too many open layups. Our back side defender wasn’t helping out.

“I told the guys it’s how you respond to a loss like this and, fortunately, we play again tonight (at home against Wheeling Park,” Haney noted. “We get to bounce right back and see how we respond.”

Santino Haney led three double-digit scorers for Steubenville with 22. Davis had 16 and Will Taylor 15 before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter. Davis completed a double-double with 11 rebounds. Haney added eight.

St. Clairsville’s ‘Big 3′ — Pastor, Brady Schafer and Straub — scored all but five of the Red Devils’ points, with Pastor going for 27, Straub 21 and Schafer 18. Straub had 11 rebounds and four blocked shots, while Pastor pulled down 10 boards.

The Red Devils led 18-15 after one quarter, but trailed 31-30 at the half thanks to a 13-0 Big Red run. Steubenville’s Tre’Von Wiggins stole the ball near midcourt with time running out in the third quarter and banked in a runner from just inside Big Red’s side of the court as the buzzer sounded for a 52-all reading heading into the final chapter.

“Our guys battled and battled, but sometimes you have to play smarter.”