Photo by Kim North St. Clairsville’s Brady Schafer drives to the basket for two of his 26 points Tuesday night as Cambridge’s Rylan Mathews (21) tries for the block. However, the No. 4 Bobcats stunned the top-seeded Red Devils, 55-39, in an OVAC WVU Medicine Class 4A semifinal on John Jenkins Court.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Logan McCort was one of the top three-point shooters in St. Clairsville boys’ basketball history. He made a triumphant return to John Jenkins Court Tuesday night.

Now the head coach at Cambridge, McCort’s No. 4 seeded Bobcats (15-6) knocked down 10 bonus goals in stunning top-seeded and defending OVAC WVU Medicine Class 4A champion St. Clairsville, 55-49, advancing to Saturday’s championship tilt at noon inside the ECO Center opposite No. 2 East Liverpool which edged No. 3 Beaver Local, 63-57, inside Potter Fieldhouse.

“This win means everything to this group of kids,” McCort, a 2016 graduate of St. Clairsville. “These guys only won six games last year. They have completely bought into all the kool aid we’ve been giving them. They bust their butts and play so hard. I love them.

“We’re not afraid to tell each other that we love them,” he added. “We’re a tight-knit group. We (the coaches) tell those kids we love them every day like they are our own. It was a complete team win. I’m so proud of the guys. This puts Cambridge basketball back on the map.”

The game was back-and-forth for much of the 40 minutes, with the biggest lead being eight by Cambridge, 51-43, with five minutes left to play as Mason Gregg drilled one of his three treys.

However, the Red Devils’ trapping defense forced a turnover as they cut the deficit to 51-47 on a baseline drive by Griffin Straub with three minutes on the clock.

Cambridge turned the ball over again, but St. Clairsville gave the ball right back to the Bobcats with a turnover of its own. The Bobcats misfired on a shot with 90 seconds left, but the Red Devils turned the ball over 14 ticks later.

Following another miss by Cambridge, Brady Schafer was fouled with 55.6 showing. The senior rattled the first shot home before finding nothing but net on the second as the deficit was 51-49 as the hosts called timeout.

Forced to foul, Cambridge knocked down four free throws — two each by Rylee Homko-Green and Jesiah Barnett — in the final 31.8 to seal the deal.

“We didn’t execute very well at either end of the court,” St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford admitted. “Especially on the defense end. We let their two really good players score most of their points. You’re not going to win when you don’t concentrate on the defensive end.

“We made some mistakes down the stretch that a veteran team can’t afford to make,” Clifford added.

Garrett Carpenter buried half of the Bobcats’ 10 treys and finished with a team-best 17 points. He also took game honors with 10 rebounds. Gregg added 13 points and Barnett had a dozen.

“We shoot a lot of three’s in practice,” McCort said. “We put a big emphasis on getting shots up and it paid off tonight. So did our foul shooting.”

Schafer paced the Red Devils with 26 points and five rebounds. Straub added 10 points and four boards.

St. Clairsville was guilty of one more turnover at 11-10. Cambridge had one more rebound at 23-22.

With the hard-earned victory, Cambridge has now won seven straight and avenged a pair of regular-season losses to St. Clairsville, 63-52 on the road and 63-55 at home.

“This win means a lot to me personally,” McCort admitted. “But I told the guys they were coming here to win a basketball game for you, this program and the community of Cambridge. They did that tonight.”