Photo by Kim North Martins Ferry’s Eli Smith skies for a rebound against Coshocton’s Mason Williams (0) during their Ohio Division V Eastern District 2 semifinal tournament game Wednesday night inside Gene Ford Gymnasium at Cambridge High School. The Purple Riders fell 67-52.

CAMBRIDGE — If Martins Ferry had any thoughts about making consecutive appearances in the Ohio Division V boys’ basketball regional tournament, they were shot down, literally and figuratively, Wednesday night.

Sixth-seeded Coshocton (13-11) connected on 11 of 17 three-point attempts — nine makes in the first half — en route to a 67-52 victory in an Eastern District 2 semifinal over No. 3 Martins Ferry (15-9) inside Gene Ford Gymnasium at Cambridge High School.

The Redskins advance to the district finals on Saturday at Buckeye Trail High School in Old Washington against the winner of Thursday night’s other semifinal between top-seeded St. Clairsville and No. 7 Tuscarawas Valley, which will also be played inside the Gene Ford Gymnasium.

“They made nine (threes) in the first half. That’s a credit to them,” Martins Ferry head coach Derek Edwards said. “Then we had to scramble. That’s basketball.”

Coshocton’s JJ Herman set the tone early on as he drilled three straight triples, the last giving the Redskins a 9-6 advantage they would never surrender.

Anthony Booth’s offensive rebound and putback early in the second quarter brought the Purple Riders to within two, 23-21, but a 15-2 run by Coshocton ballooned the margin to 15, 38-23, and the Belmont Countians never recovered.

Martins Ferry outscored Coshocton 23-22 in the second half, but the damage had already been inflicted.

Booth, who went over the 1,000-point mark for his injury-shortened career, was the lone Purple Rider in twin figures with 20 points. Eli Smith and Gavin Little, a pair of promising juniors, each added nine, as did sophomore Walkquem Cox.

“Anthony has battled through so much during his career,” Edwards said of Booth, one of four seniors. “It was nice to see him get his 1,000th point tonight. He’s done that in just about two seasons due to injuries. He’s a battler and a hard worker. I’m so proud of him.”

The other seniors are Maurice Barnett, Kent Beery and Jermale Thompson.

“Maurice played in a lot of big games for us,” Edwards said. “Kent and Jermale were two guys that didn’t get a lot of playing time, but I appreciate those guys so much because they went through the program and were a part of it. Just because they didn’t play a lot of minutes didn’t mean they didn’t play a major role for us.”

Mason Williams led four Redskins in double digits with 14. Herman finished with 13, while Kash Murphy and Quinton Summers evenly split two dozen.

Coshocton, which won for the fifth straight time, led 25-19 off the glass and had one less turnover with nine.

Smith pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds for the Purple Riders. Williams had seven and Champ Haley six for the Redskins.