T-L Photo/RICK THORP HARRISON CENTRAL’S Gavin Muckle dribbles the ball upcourt Friday night against St. Clairsville.

CADIZ — The final boys’ basketball game between St. Clairsville and Harrison Central inside the John W. Stephenson Center was one the standing-room-only crowd that was there to witness it won’t soon forget.

The Red Devils and Huskies staged another classic in their long-standing rivalry, this one coming down to the final horn — an 86-83 victory by the home team that had both squads departing the floor with 2-1 records.

Sophomore guards Gavin Muckle and Kobe Mitchell exploded for 33 and 29 points, respectively, as the Huskies took control down the stretch in the first battle between coaching brothers Justin and Ryan Clifford.

“We expect that out of them,” Justin Clifford said of his sophomore pair. “But we realize they are both sophomores and they’ll keep growing.”

Muckle collected 25 of his points in the second half, and Harrison Central needed all of them as the Red Devils scratched and clawed their way back to within a missed 3-point heave that hit the ceiling of the venerable hoops palace (the team is slated to move to the new Harrison Central school next season) as the horn sounded from sending the game to overtime.

“They don’t get much better than this do they?,” Clifford, the Huskies’ veteran head coach said following his team’s second home game of the season — both victories. “Boy, did both teams make play after play.”

It’s true. The final period was filled with clutch plays, most coming from Harrison Central’s sensational guard tandem.

Muckle and Mitchell combined to tickle the twine for 17 of the Huskies’ 28 fourth-quarter points.

“They completely controlled the game like good guards do,” Ryan Clifford, who took over for his dad, Kim, as St. Clairsville’s head coach this season, said of the duo. “They’re good , and young, so they’ll be good for a long time.”

St. C. struck first in the fourth, however, taking a 59-58 lead on one of five 3-pointers from Brett Vike (21 points). But the Huskies went on an 11-2 run to grab a 69-61 advantage with 5:01 left.

Vike hit another trey coming out of a Red Devils time out, but it was the only St. Clairsville field goal in about a five-minute span and that was part of the Red Devils’ undoing in the final period.

“This is our first test on the road in a hostile place in a big game against a good team,” Ryan Clifford noted. “We didn’t make shots like we do at home. No one does. That’s the difference between playing at home and one the road.”

Still, the Red Devils surpassed the 80-point plateau again and took advantage of the Huskies’ missed opportunities to close out the game for good.

Trailing 73-66, Craig Bober, who finished with 23 points, hit two from the free throw line making the score 73-68 with 3:07 left.

Harrison Central pushed its lead back to eight — 79-71 — with 1:35 remaining on a 3-point play by Muckle.

The Red Devils responded quickly with a trey by leading scorer Matthew Busby (26 points) bringing the deficit back to five –79-74.

Payton Taylor, who had two big 3s in the fourth, hit two huge free throws with less than 20 seconds left giving the Huskies a five point lead. But Bober hit another 3 making it a three-point game.

The Huskies were fouled and, in the double bonus, missed both attempts at the line with 1.1 ticks left. Bober grabbed the rebound, but his desperation toss came up short.

“I’m proud of the way we battled toward the end,” Ryan Clifford said. “I told my guys that they’re a really good team, and that we can be one, too.

“Give credit to them. Their other kids made shots when they needed them, too.”

One of them was Caden Dalton, who finished with 11 points.

“We challenged them this week,” Justin Clifford said. “We didn’t play really well (in a loss at) Martins Ferry the other night. I don’t think I’ve challenged them the past two days like I did the last two days in practice. That’s a testament to them for stepping up.

“We didn’t do a very good job down the stretch, but we made one more play than they did.”