MARTINS FERRY — Logan Smith was impressive scoring 11 of Martins Ferry’s first-half points, but he saved the real show for the second half.

Finishing with 29 points and 13 rebounds, Smith turned a narrow 20-16 first half lead into a runaway in the second half as the Purple Riders erupted to register a 64-34 win over Buckeye Local in the Tolbert Gymnasium Friday night.

The game drew a large crowd that was treated to an exciting first half and Smith’s performance that escalated after the intermission. With the win, coach Derek Edwards Purple Riders extended their record to 10-7 on the season. Ferry takes a break until next Saturday when they take part in the Buckeye 8 Tournament at Edison High School.

Coach Chris Heaton’s Panthers dropped their second decision of the week while falling to 5-10 on the campaign. Buckeye is back in action on Tuesday squaring up against Barnesville on the Panther boards.

Edwards was high in praise with regards to Smith, saying that the talented team leader is “someone that the team counts on to give the Riders a boast and that he comes through with regularity.”

Smith was nearly unstoppable cashing in 14 shots from the floor and one of three at the line. His shots included three dunks, a host of scores after a rebound and a number of buckets off the baseline. In addition, he led both teams with 13 rebounds.

“They came out and did some things we didn’t expect,” Edwards said after the win. “So it was a good game plan for them and we had to adjust especially in the second quarter when we started to find our way.

“It started with our defense as usual and then in the second half we opened up very strong and our halfcourt offense looked really good,” the Purple Riders coach added. “That’s something we have been consistently working really hard at. Defensively, I didn’t like some of the layups and shots in the paint they were getting, but we were able to speed them up with some ball pressure.”

First quarter action saw both teams struggle — Buckeye Local with turnovers and Martins Ferry with missed shots. At the first break, the Panthers had held onto a slim 10-6 lead aided by buckets from Hayden Taylor and Hunter Darrah in the closing seconds.

In the second frame, the Panthers held leads of 12-6 and 14-9 before the Riders started to comeback an 11-2 run to close the half. Smith and Ruben Hilson accounted for eight points and Cody Olsen netted a trey from the corner for the Purple Riders during the outburst.

“The guys did a heck of a job,” Edwards said with regards to his team forcing 28 Panther turnovers. “That’s a big part of the game, put pressure on the ball and contain the ball. We were able to get into the passing lanes and that gave us some easy buckets and you need some easy buckets.”

In the third quarter, the Purple Riders came out firing, outscoring the Panthers 26-6 in the frame. An 8-0 run opened the session and following a Buckeye three, Martins Ferry went on to score 13 straight to open a 41-19 lead. After another trey by Buckeye, the hosts tacked on five more to close out the session with a 46-22 lead. Smith tallied 12 points and five rebounds in the third and Cody Olson added eight to spark the Purple Rider comeback.

“They came out and didn’t change much in the second half,” Heaton said. “They just turned up the pressure and forced us into a lot of mistakes. We just tried to force too many passes instead of just taking the shot.”

As far as Smith’s play, Heaton said, “He’s as good as advertised. We thought we did a good job on him in the first half and he still scored a lot of their points. A lot of people were saying how good he is and they were right. He’s tough to stop.”

Along with Smith’s 29-point effort, Olson tossed in 11 markers and Hilson added 10. Rebounding was close with each team grabbing 28 strays.

Buckeye failed to produce a double digit scorer as Jacob Moffo led the Panthers with seven points and Taylor finished with six.