Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Elijah Smith (13) shoots over top of Union Local’s Bill Schumacher during their OVAC WVU Medicine Class 3A Boys Basketball Third-Fourth place game Friday night at Union Local High School.

MORRISTOWN — In what could be a preview of next week’s Ohio Division V second round postseason encounter, Union Local and Martins Ferry didn’t want to give away any secrets Friday night during the OVAC WVU Medicine Class 3A Boys Basketball Championships third-place contest inside “The Hangar.”

The No. 4 Jets (16-6) built leads of 17 points twice in the third quarter, only to watch the Purple Riders, seeded No. 5 in the Eastern District sectional, pull to within two late in the fourth quarter before Brandon Mehl tickled the twine four times on free throws to seal a 60-52 triumph.

Should both teams win their initial home playoff outings on Feb. 22 against No. 10 Sandy Valley and No. 14 Morgan, respectively, they would match up on Feb. 26 in a District semifinal at a site to be determined by OHSAA officials.

But before all that transpires, the two rivals traded good quarters for bad quarters. Union Local won the first and third quarters, with Martins Ferry (10-11) playing better in the second and fourth. However, the deciding factor was the Jets scored 42 points in their better quarters to only 29 for the Purple Riders.

“Truthfully, that was a hard game for me to coach and I’m sure it was a hard game for (Martins Ferry head coach) Derek (Edwards) to coach,” Union Local head coach Zach Delman said. “You know you’re potentially playing each other again in the (sectional) tournament, but it’s not like they don’t know us and we don’t know them, you try to not show too much and they don’t want to show much, but you’ve still have a scoreboard and it is plugged in, so we want to win.

“I know Derek is as competitive as I am and it seemingly was a tale of two quarters each,” Delman added. “We had a good first and third and they had a good second and fourth.”

Martins Ferry led 9-3 before Union Local went on a 17-2 run for a 20-11 advantage after one quarter. However, the Jets would only score four points in the second period as the Purple Riders pulled to within 24-19 at the half.

An 18-4 spurt by the hosts in the third quarter gave them a 15-point, 46-31, margin entering the fourth quarter.

“That’s a tough spot to be in,” Delman said of the 15-point advantage going into the final eight minutes. “I was disappointed in the way we took care of the ball and shot free throws. We usually shoot better than that. We’ve got to make sure we focus on the little things come tournament time.”

After netting the final three points of the third quarter, Martins Ferry used an 8-2 run to make it a 48-39 Union Local lead with a little under six minutes remaining. After Bill Schumacher gave the Jets a 52-41 lead with 3:45 left, the Purple Riders used a jumper from Tev’n Williams and an offensive putback by Alex Reese before calling timeout with 2:13 trailing 52-45. Following a Union Local miss, Elijah Smith scored in the paint and then buried a three-pointer from the left corner for a 52-50 reading.

Three free throws from Saunders and one by Logan Hess built the margin back to 56-50, but the Jets also misfired on four others that could have sealed the deal.

Mehl cashed in a pair at the 35.5-second mark and two more with 1.1 remaining after a Reese bucket.

Reese, the 6-6 Youngstown State University football recruit, led all scorers in the game with 25. He also charted 10 rebounds. Smith added 13 points.

“I don’t know if we played better tonight,” Edwards said of Wednesday night’s semi final blowout at Monroe Central. “But we competed better tonight. We are not in rhythm right now, but we’ve got a week to get ready for Morgan next Saturday.

“That’s where our minds are right now.”

Saunders stuffed the scorebook and the stat sheet with 24 points, nine rebounds, eight steals and half-a-dozen assists. Mehl chipped in 10 points, while Schumacher added nine. Brody Gregor and Peyton Causby had eight each.

“It’s no secret that he is what makes us go,” Delman said of the cat-quick Saunders. “Teams know that. He’s a special player. I’m glad he’s on our team.”

Martins Ferry won the battle on the boards, 32-29, but also had two more turnovers at 18-16.