Photo by Kim North Members of the St. Clairsville boys basketball team pose with their Ohio Division V East 2 District championship trophy after defeating Coshocton 52-44 Saturday inside Harrison Central High School’s Gymnasium in Cadiz. The Red Devils advance to the regional tournament for the first time since 2013.

CADIZ — Some members of the St. Clairsville boys’ basketball team were just toddlers the last time the Red Devils advanced to an Ohio Regional Tournament, while the others were even younger. The year was 2013 when the Belmont Countians played in Division III.

Fast forward 13 years and St. Clairsville is back. The top-seeded Red Devils (18-7) ousted a pesky sixth-seeded Coshocton (13-12) squad by a 52-44 count Saturday afternoon inside the Harrison Central High School Gymnasium in an Division V, East 2 District championship game.

“We were stuck in D-II for such a long time with schools a lot bigger than us,” veteran St. Clairsville head coach Ryan Clifford said. “Now we are playing schools our own size and this is the second straight year in the district final. We left this gym last year disappointed and we said then we were going to do whatever it took to take that next step. We did it.”

The contest was back-and-forth for the most part, with St. Clairsville trailing 33-28 with 3:30 to play in the third quarter. A 10-2 spurt to close the quarter built a 38-35 lead that the Red Devils would never relinquish.

Senior Griffin Straub gave St. Clairsville a 42-35 advantage early in the fourth quarter with a thunderous two-hand dunk, but the Redskins pulled to within 42-40 before Brody Clifford buried a three from the right wing to give the Red Devils some breathing room at 45-40.

Sophomore Luke Schafer continued his outstanding postseason play with six of his game-best 20 points in the fourth panel as St. Clairsville slowly, but surely, pulled away.

“The beauty of this team is that nobody cares who gets the credit,” Clifford stressed. “Luke bides his time when Griff shines, but he has his moments too. Niko (Jacob) fills his role excellently and Kaden (Clifford) didn’t play in the fourth quarter but he was the first one off the bench to celebrate. That’s a special thing when you have players like that.”

Schafer rebounded his own missed shot and scored on a putback to make it 48-42 with 2:27 on the clock. The Redskins hit 2-of-3 free throws for a 48-44 reading, but clutch free throws by senior Ollie Muhly and Schafer in the final 34.2 seconds sealed the deal.

“I’m ready to play on Wednesday already,” Schafer said. “It’s amazing.”

Until Muhly and Schafer tickled the twine four times, St. Clairsville was a mere 5-for-14.

“That’s what a senior does,” Coach Clifford said of Muhly.

The game was deadlocked at 11 after one quarter before St. Clairsville grabbed a 24-20 halftime margin.

The 6-7 Straub, a NCAA D-II signee with Indiana, Pa., joined Schafer in double figures with 13 points and completed his double-double with a like number of rebounds. He also blocked three shots.

“I’ve been waiting my whole life to experience this. It’s really exciting,” Straub said. “We’ve got a silver one of these (medals), now we’ve got the gold.”

Brody Clifford, who grew up shooting in the Harrison Central gym when his father (now St. Clairsville Athletic Director) Justin was the Huskies’ boys coach and AD, added nine points on a trio of treys. Senior Niko Jacob chipped in eight.

When the final buzzer sounded, Coach Clifford and his senior son, Kaden, enjoyed a huge embrace.

“That’s something we’ve talked about for a long time,” Ryan said, holding back his emotions. “That’s something both of us will remember forever.”

With the cherished victory, Coach Clifford and his troops now turn their attention to the Region 19 semifinals on Wednesday night inside Winland Memorial Gymnasium at Zanesville High School. The ball goes up at 7. They will play No. 2 West Muskingum (21-5), which eliminated Ridgewood, 56-17, in the East 1 final at Tri-Valley High School in Dresden.

“I’ve been around this (senior) group since they were in second grade. Just because we’re in the regional, we’re not satisfied,” he stressed. “We’re ready to go there and make some noise.”