Photo by Kim North Union Local boys’ basketball coach Zach Delman, right, and Easton Ditzler hold the OVAC WVU Medicine Class 3A championship trophy Saturday morning in Cadiz.

CADIZ — As well as Wheeling Central played Tuesday in its semi final upset of Martins Ferry, the Maroon Knights didn’t bring their best Saturday morning in a 58-48 loss to top-seeded Union Local in the OVAC WVU Medicine Class 3A championship game at Harrison Central High School.

No. 2 Wheeling Central (13-5) and the Jets (14-4) went back and forth for three-plus quarters.

The contest was tied seven times, the last at 40 early in the fourth quarter, and there were 11 lead changes.

“This is unbelievable. I never thought at the start of the year that we would be able to stand here today as OVAC champions,” an emotional Union Local head coach Zach Delman said. “Central is a tremendous program with a lot of tradition. We knew we had our hands full with all of their athletes, but our kids were up to the challenge.”

Eli Dean’s three-pointer from the left corner less than a minute into the fourth quarter deadlocked the game at 40.

Gannon Kerns’ steal and ensuing layup moments later put Union Local ahead to stay at 42-40.

With the margin at 49-48, Kerns hit 1 of 2 free throws and a Dre Saunders basket made it 52-48 with just under two minutes remaining to play. Saunders scored back-to-back baskets and Alex Moore made two free throws to seal the deal.

“I’m really proud of our effort down the stretch,” Delman said.

Moore got off to a hot start, scoring all eight of the Jets points in the first quarter. He would finish with a game-best 19 and also pulled in five rebounds.

For his performance, Moore was named the John Howell Memorial MVP.

Saunders was right behind with 17 points and a pair of blocked shots, while Kerns had a dozen points and seven rebounds.

Easton Ditzler pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds as the Jets held a 28-22 edge off the glass.

“Dre was kind of quiet in the first half and I told him at halftime that he had to make some noise like he’s been doing the last two months, and he really stepped it up,” Delman said. “He had a couple of key steals late and I thought he did a tremendous job (defensively) on the (Quinton) Burlenski kid.”

Jeremy Ratcliffe led the Maroon Knights with 18, but 15 of those came in the first half when Wheeling Central led 27-22.

“He had the hot hand early, but Union Local was able to take that away in the second half,” Stephens said.

Troy Anthony had 11 points in support. Max Olejsz had eight of the Maroon Knights’ 22 rebounds.

“This was, and is always, one of our goals,” Stephens said of playing for an OVAC title.

The Jets return to ‘The Hangar’ on Tuesday to host Shadyside. Wheeling Central heads to Fort Frye on Thursday.