Photo Provided Martins Ferry’s Maurice Barnett (12) looks to drive around the defense of St. Clairsville’s Brady Schafer.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The score after one quarter Friday in St. Clairsville stood the Red Devils 12 and Alex Reese 10.

Tack on two additional points from Anthony Booth and the Purple Riders were tied with the rival Red Devils after one.

St. C. was having trouble stopping the 6-foot-5 Reese. Ferry was having trouble getting anything other than Reese going, on either end of the floor.

St. C. found a way to keep the Ferry enforcer at bay long enough to pull away for a 65-54 victory, avenging a 79-66 loss in a mutual season opener back on December 5.

The win puts head coach Ryan Clifford’s club a game above .500 at 5-4 with a Tuesday road meeting with Union Local looming.

Ferry, meanwhile, suffered just its second loss of the season, snapping a four-game win streak as the Purple Riders (5-2) return home Tuesday to face Beaver Local.

The visitors struggled with a couple issues. One, Ferry lost the services of Tev’n Williams early and often after Williams picked up foul No. 2 mere minutes into the first quarter. He scored four points in the second quarter and finished with six, but spent a large portion of Friday’s contest on the bench in foul trouble.

Williams absence on the court, coupled with a solid man effort from St. C., kept the Riders from finding consistency or comfort on the offensive end.

Turnovers were made, some shots were forced, and a team that is usually dominant on the boards was getting outworked by the Red Devils.

On the opposite end, St. C. opted to spread the floor, playing with five out, setting picks up high and either (a) attacking off the dribble with last-second backdoor passes for easy buckets, or (b) drive and kicks for open looks from the perimeter.

The Red Devils finished with 10 triples, with four coming from the hot hand of Tyson Pastor en route to his team-high 24 points.

But it wasn’t just the usual suspects for St. C. Sophomore Griffin Straub came off the bench to supply 15 points, including eight in the first quarter and 12 by half’s end.

It’s not often St. C. senior Cole Thoburn will go an entire first half without scoring, but that’s just what transpired Friday and even still, the Devils led 32-25 at the break.

Reese and Booth helped keep the visitors in the game in the second half, with the former adding six each quarter to finish with a game-high 29 points while Booth totaled eight of his 10 in the second half.

St. C. led by eight early in the third after Thoburn hit his first points of the game, a deep triple from the wing. Ferry battled back and cut the deficit to one on a bucket from Turner Krol at 37-36.

The hosts closed on a 11-4 run that stretched into the fourth quarter.

The Riders didn’t go away quietly and again battled back with Booth cutting the lead to three on a tip-in at 49-46. The visitors got no closer.

Pastor (9) and Thoburn (8) took control in the final period to preserve the win for St. C.