WHEELING — Tuesday’s OVAC 3A semifinals on Coach Skip Prosser Court was a rematch of last year’s championship game between the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights and Union Local Jets, with a different outcome at game’s end than last year’s battle.

The second-seeded Knights are going back to the championship game after a 73-59 victory over No. 3 Union Local.

“That’s one of our goals at the beginning of the year,” Wheeling Central head coach Mel Stephens said of getting to the championship game, set for Saturday inside Ohio University Eastern’s ECO Center. “No. 1, to get into that top four, get a chance at the semis, and ultimately you want to be able to play for a championship. That’s what we were able to do tonight. “Saturday, no matter who it is, Monroe or Ferry, it’s going to be another tough one but we’re there and we’re looking forward to the opportunity.”

Eli Sancomb poured in 33 points to go with nine rebounds and four steals to lead Wheeling Central on Tuesday.

He shot 9-14 from the field and 15-16 at the foul line.

“When you’ve got a kid like [Sancomb] on the other side of the floor, he’s a special player– that’s what a college basketball player looks like,” Union Local head coach Zach Delman said. “We knew if he was going to score that many, it was going to be tough for us to win. We were going to try to cut his average in half, and we weren’t able to do that. When he gets 33 and shoots 16 foul shots you’re going to be in for a tough night.”

Wheeling Central got out to a 7-0 lead in the first two minutes of play, prompting a quick timeout from Union Local. The Knights would not be slowed, leading 22-9 at the end of the opening period.

The Jets meanwhile, struggled to score, particularly inside. Union Local had as many 3-point field goals as 2-point field goals in the first half– four of each. The Jets shot 21% from inside the arc in the first half, and trailed 38-21 at the half.

“It was a poor start on our part,” Delman said. “It’s hard to beat a team, almost impossible to beat a team of their caliber when you start that poorly. It wasn’t like we were trying to start that poorly– they came out and made shots, we didn’t do a very good job. You take the first quarter out of the equation, I thought we did a pretty good job. We got good looks for the most part from things we were trying to do.”

Wheeling Central was able to get multiple on-ball steals at the top of the key, and always seemed to have multiple bodies contesting shots inside.

“Credit to them, I thought they did a good job of taking some things away and making things difficult,” Delman said. “I thought their length and athleticism bothered us at times.”

In the second half, Union Local got as close as nine points on two separate occasions in the fourth quarter, but no closer.

“We wanted to attack the rim, we just weren’t always able to get to where we wanted to be,” Delman said. “I thought we shot the ball okay in stretches but it wasn’t enough when we were cutting into the lead to get the game where we wanted it. We got it down to eight or nine at one time and just couldn’t make a shot to get within striking distance. Credit to them, they did a good job of doing what they needed to do to win the game.”

Union Local’s Bill Schumacher started the fourth quarter with a strong take to the rim to get the Jets within nine, 52-43, and a Jets steal in the backcourt and score by Dre Saunders with 1:50 on the clock got the visitors to a 68-59 differential, but each time, the Maroon Knights were able to stave off a true comeback.

“We played a really good half defensively– on both ends, really,” Stephens said. “Our goal is to try to put two halves together like that for a game. Saturday would be a great time to do that.

“We still did some of the things we wanted to do in the second half, but we had a few breakdowns a couple times, [Union Local was] able to take advantage of some things, and they made some tough shots in the second half. But when they made those runs, we were able to answer that pretty much every time.”

The Maroon were held to their lowest scoring quarter in the third, with 14 points, as they weren’t able to find a groove against Union Local’s defense, which jacked up the pressure coming out of halftime. But Wheeling Central made 11 foul shots in the fourth quarter to keep the lead at arm’s length.

“We kind of settled down a little bit,” Stephens said of his team’s fourth quarter. “We talk all year about understanding time and score– what is a good shot, what’s not a good shot. Maybe something early in the game is a good shot, but when you’re getting down the stretch and looking at time and score, maybe it’s not a good shot.

“Give the guys credit, we were able to get to the foul line and make foul shots. The majority of those were Eli’s but we had a couple other guys be able to step up there late and knock some down to keep that lead out there.”

Schumacher led Union Local with 20 points while Saunders scored 18. Tyler Dean scored 12 for Wheeling Central, while Max Olejasz had nine points and 12 rebounds.

The Maroon Knights will play the winner of No. 1 Monroe Central vs. No. 4 Martins Ferry. That game is set for Wednesday night.