T-L Photo/SETH STASKEY ST. CLAIRSVILLE’S Brett Vike drives baseline as Wheeling Central’s Jalen Creighton during the first quarter of Wednesday’s game on John Jenkins Court at St. Clairsville High School. The Maroon Knights captured a 56-55 win.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Wheeling Central and St. Clairsville didn’t just look like two evenly matched teams Wednesday evening.

They played like it, too.

The Maroon Knights and Red Devils battled tooth and nail, going back and forth seemingly on every possession, literally. The game featured 22 lead changes, but it was the last lead change with 8.5 seconds left that mattered most to the Knights.

Sophomore Ryan Reasbeck cashed in two free throws and then the Knights forced a Red Devil turnover to escape the Belmont County Seat with a hard-earned 56-55 victory.

“I don’t think we played extremely smart times, but we played hard,” a relieved Mel Stephens said. “We didn’t play our best game, but we battled and made just enough plays, at the end, to win.”

And on the other side, St. Clairsville coach Ryan Clifford felt the complete opposite.

“We had too many losing plays down the stretch when we had chances to win the game,” Clifford said. “We couldn’t make the one play we needed to make.”

The teams literally went back-and-forth throughout the fourth quarter. Prior to the final charity tosses, Central, which saw a three-point lead evaporate at the end of the third when St. C. sophomore Colin Oberdick buried a half-court shot at the buzzer, led in the fourth quarter only once at 54-53 after J.C. Maxwell hit a pair of free throws.

However, Brett Vike knocked in a pair from the line for the Devils to put them right back on top at 55-54.

St. Clairsville got a stop and was effectively running clock. Central, electing not to foul with the clock turning under a minute, sped the Devils up and it eventually led to a turnover.

Despite being down only one, the Knights took a 3-pointer from the wing, which was short, but Reasbeck got an offensive rebound. They took another trey, from the other side, which caromed out long and the Devils were whistled for a loose-ball foul.

“That rebound (on the last possession) was a scramble and free-for-all,” Clifford said. “We were after it. The ball just bounced the other team’s way, which has seemed to be happening a lot lately.”

After the Reasbeck free throws put Central back on top, Clifford called a time out.

“We defended pretty well,” Stephens said. “Ryan’s free throws were key, but then we were able to put enough pressure on them (to force the turnover). We thought they’d try to get the ball to Nate (Harris) and have him try to get it up the floor to the rim or create and kick.”

That was pretty much the plan. Harris had the ball poked away and it ended up in the hands of a Maroon Knight and nary a St. C. player could commit a foul in time to extend the game.

“It comes down to execution,” Clifford said. “We had the ball late, with the lead, and we didn’t get it done. If we could have held onto the ball, I thought we had a good thing happening.”

During the fourth, Reasbeck and Maxwell — as they did throughout the game — came up big for the Knights. They combined for 12 of Central’s 14 points. Taking that a step farther, they combined for 42 of the team’s total with Reasbeck leading all scorers with 22.

“The guys who have the experience are the ones you expect to make the plays in these types of games,” Stephens said. “Those guys did that (Wednesday).”

The Red Devils had a trio of double-figure scorers. Sophomore big man Avery Henry had 12, while junior Will Balgo and Harris evenly divided 20. Vike finished with nine.

St. Clairsville, which is now 10-7, returns to action Saturday in what Clifford deemed a “t-shirt game” as they play East Liverpool for the Buckeye 8 title.

“I thought we played well for a long time, but I am tired of playing well and not getting a W,” Clifford said. “That’s two of the last three games where we’ve had a lead, the ball late and not come out with the win. We’re not into moral victories. But, we’re in a position to go try to win a championship.”

The Maroon Knights, who are now 12-5, are also in action Saturday at Clarksburg Notre Dame.