Martins Ferry’s Eli Smith (13) drives to the basket against St. Clairsville’s Griffin Straub during Saturday night’s Ohio Division V East 2 District Championship game at Harrison Central High School. The Purple Riders won, 70-54, to punch their ticket to the regional in Athens on Friday.

CADIZ — It’s been said time and time again that it’s not how you start, but how you finish. The Martins Ferry boys basketball team is a classic example of that trend.

The fifth-seeded Purple Riders were 3-8 at one point in the season, had two players — one starter — on the injured list and looked dead in the water.

However, on the strength of a 70-54 victory over top-seeded St. Clairsville in the Ohio Division V East 2 District Championship Game Saturday night before a near-capacity crowd inside the ‘Huskies’ House’ at Harrison Central High School, Martins Ferry (13-11) is headed to the Region 19 semifinals for the first time since 2014.

“I’ve had a lot of visions of this day as a player and as a coach,” Martins Ferry head coach Derek Edwards said. “I’m just so happy for the kids. This is something that is going to be with them forever, and they earned it.

“There were a lot of people that wrote us off at 3-8 when we were down a couple of guys,” Edwards noted. “We were losing some games that weren’t close and our schedule was a big part of that. I really believe the hard times brought us here.

“We’ve had a vision all year, and that was to get to Athens. To see it come to fruition is a credit to our players. They could have stopped coming to practice and working hard being 3-8, but they didn’t. They just kept coming.”

Martins Ferry will meet Chesapeake, the Southeast 2 District champ, which defeated Wheelersburg 49-45 Saturday inside the Convocation Center on the campus of Ohio University in Athens. That game is set for Friday night at 8.

The first quarter saw the two rivals exchange the lead four times and there were a pair of ties before a three-point basket by Kaden Clifford gave the Red Devils a 17-15 margin.

However, the Purple Riders turned up the defensive pressure a few notches and knocked down the open shots in outscoring the Red Devils 23-9 in the pivotal second quarter for a 38-26 halftime advantage that St. Clairsville could never recover from.

The pressure forced nine turnovers in the quarter combined with a dismal 3-for-10 shooting effort from the floor.

“The credit is to them,” St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford said. “If they continue to play like that, they are going to be a tough out.”

Senior Alex Reese, the Purple Riders’ 6-6 mountain of a man in the middle, netted 10 of his game-high 23 points in the second quarter. But it was a five-point spurt by classmate Tev’n Williams to start the quarter that gave them the lead for good.

“We had to sag down to try and contain Reese because he is such a good player on the inside that we left some guys wide open and they knocked down the open shots,” Coach Clifford said. “We were hoping that they would miss, but they didn’t.”

The quick start ignited a 9-2 spurt that led to a 22-5 surge that put some distance between the team squads. The Purple Gang led 38-26 at the half.

St. Clairsville closed to within 42-36 on a triple by Griffin Straub with three minutes left in the third quarter, but a basket by Eli Smith and a conventional three-point play by Reese bumped the count to 11.

Leading 49-40 to start the fourth, Martins Ferry tickled the twine on three consecutive three-point attempts — two by Gavin Little — in building a 58-43 margin. Little was 4-for-4 from long range as the Purple Riders knocked down nine of 12 bonus goal attempts.

“I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, let alone if we had made nine three-point baskets in a game this season,” Edwards said when asked if the nine treys were a season high.

In addition to Reese, three other players reached twin figures as Smith added 16, Little 14 and Maurice Barnett a dozen.

“It was a total team effort,” Edwards praised. “It could be a different guy every night. That’s the type of team we have.”

Straub led St. Clairsville with 19 points, one more than Brady Schafer. Tyson Pastor finished with nine.

“This senior class is one of the best we’ve ever had here at St. Clairsville,” Coach Clifford said. “They are leaving their mark on this program that will last a long time.”

Reese capped a double-double with 14 rebounds as the Purple Riders held a 29-22 advantage off the glass. Williams, Little and Smith all had three each. Schafer had seven for the Red Devils and Straub five.