Photo by Kim North St. Clairsville’s Luke Schafer (4) shoots over top of Tuscarawas Valley’s Cole Kuykendall during Thursday night’s Ohio Division V, East 2 District semifinal inside the Gene Ford Gymnasium at Cambridge High School. Schafer scored 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in leading the Red Devils to a 67-56 victory.

CAMBRIDGE — There’s only three words that matter when the postseason rolls around: survive and advance. St. Clairsville did just that Thursday night while punching its ticket to the Ohio Division V Boys Basketball East 2 District Tournament championship game.

The top-seeded Red Devils (17-7) posted a 67-56 victory over No. 7 Tuscarawas Valley (11-13) despite shooting 12-for-26 from the foul line and committing a dozen turnovers.

St. Clairsville started the game on a 12-0 run and used an 11-0 over the end of the first quarter and the start of the second for a 30-13 advantage with 6:15 left in the first half. However, the Trojans reeled off 14 unanswered points on their own and pulled even at 32 before sophomore Luke Schafer gave the Red Devils a 34-32 halftime margin.

The Red Devils led 45-37 midway through the third panel when 6-7 Griffin Straub picked up his third personal foul and went to the bench. With their leading scorer on the bench, the Belmont Countians extended their lead to 12, 52-40, at the end of three quarters.

“They cut the lead and we got into foul trouble,” St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford said. “We were able to extend the lead with our leading scorer on the bench. That’s the sign of a mature team that has been through the battles.”

Senior Ollie Muhly canned back-to-back shots in the paint and Schafer connected on a huge trey from the left wing to make it 51-40. A Brody Clifford free throw gave St. Clairsville a 52-40 lead with eight minutes remaining.

“Those guys are capable of doing that,” Clifford added. “This team is as unselfish as it gets and that’s why we are successful. Sure, we may feed Straub a lot, but when he came out they guys showed that they are really players, too.”

The Trojans could never get any closer than 10 in the fourth quarter despite the Red Devils missing half of their 10 free throws.

The savvy Schafer sliced and diced his way to a game-best 30 points on 11 of 16 shooting. He completed a double-double with 10 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.

“We liked the matchup with Luke and we did what a good football team does. We rode him and rode him, especially in the third quarter.”

Senior Niko Jacob chipped in 15 points and pulled down five rebounds as Sr. Clairsville led 38-23 off the glass. Muhly finished with eight points. While only scoring eight points, Straub, the Red Devils’ NCAA Division II signee with Indiana, Pa., stuffed the stat sheet with 12 rebounds, half-a-dozen blocked shots, five assists and two steals.

“Griff affects the game in a lot of different ways,” Clifford said. “He did that tonight.”

Izaak Matthews and Brody may each scored 14 points for Tuscarawas Valley. Cole Kuykendall added 13. May had seven rebounds.

With the victory, St. Clairsville will meet sixth-seeded Coshocton Saturday night for the district title at Harrison Central High School. The ball goes up at 7.