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Big Red advances to district final

Steubenville boys slow down Harrison Central, will face John Glenn on Saturday

GOING IN — Steubenville’s James Roundtree hits a layup with Harrison Central’s Evan Stine looking Wednesday. (Photo Andrew Grimm)

CONNORVILLE — It takes a team effort to win at tournament time.

The Steubenville boys basketball team demonstrated that in Wednesday night’s Division II, East 1 District semifinal at Buckeye Local High School.

Big Red, the No. 3 seed, got contributions up and down the lineup, which was enough to keep No. 6 seed Harrison Central at bay, 64-47, despite another masterful performance by East District Division II Player of the Year Kobe Mitchell.

“We always say we’re a total team effort,” Steubenville coach Mike Haney said. “We have nine or 10 guys contribute usually. Anyone can have a big night for us on any given night. We had really balanced scoring.”

Steubenville (18-5) finished with three players in double figures — and with at least eight points from five different players — in front of a packed house with a strong following on both sides.

“That’s the atmosphere that it should be for playoff basketball,” Haney said. “I thought it was great. That’s how tournament basketball should be — nice crowds and loud.”

Big Red’s Calvin Bickerstaff and Josh Zimmerman tied for the team-high with 12 points.

“It feels great,” Bickerstaff said. “We’ve made it farther than last year and, hopefully, we keep on going. It was really loud the whole time. Those are the best games to be a part of.”

Mitchell, a sophomore, scored his 1,000th-career point and finished with 32 points. No one else on the Huskies (17-7) had more than five.

“If you would have told me before the game (Mitchell) would have gotten 32, I would have liked our chances,” Harrison Central coach Justin Clifford said. “It is what it is. Congratulations to Steubenville. It was electric in here. I told them that all the hours in the gym and everything you do, you do for atmospheres like this.

“We were excited to be here. We were up to the task early.”

Mitchell lost a key member of his supporting cast with 2:05 to go in the first quarter when Caden Dalton injured his wrist after a collision with a Big Red player driving to the hoop. He did not return.

“Caden going down kind of took the wind out of everybody,” Clifford said. “It was a heck-of-a game there early. No one is going to feel sorry for us. They did what they needed to do to win the game, and we didn’t. Caden is a big part of what we do. He was a tough matchup for them because he is quick and he got to the hoop early.

“When he went down, we didn’t have an answer, and that is on me. There are no excuses. We’ll go back and get better.”

The injury came not long after Harrison Central took what ended up being its final lead of the game, 9-8, on a Payton Taylor 3-pointer.

Big Red rattled off the next seven points and led 15-11 after one quarter. Mitchell had just two points in the opening eight minutes but got going the rest of the way.

Steubenville then started to take over with a 6-0 spurt to begin the second quarter. That run was capped by a Bickerstaff slam dunk.

At halftime, Steubenville was on top 36-22.

Big Red pushed the lead to 17 points at 50-33, before a pair of technical fouls on Jorian Jones and Trillyon Jones helped the Huskies close to within 10 heading to the fourth quarter at 50-40.

Haney, after the Huskies had got within 10, slowed the game down with Harrison Central playing zone, holding the ball uncontested for more than two minutes and drawing the ire of the Huskies faithful.

“When you’re in a game like that with a 10-point lead at the time, time is your friend. When you’re down, time is your enemy,” Haney said. “We don’t usually do that a lot, but they were staying in a zone. We were able to kill two minutes just holding the ball. When you get under three minutes to go, the clock starts ticking fast.

“We had too many fouls and started losing our heads a little bit. We had to calm things down. I think that two minutes helped everybody gather themselves.”

It forced Harrison Central to start fouling, which ultimately allowed Big Red to pull away for the 17-point victory.

“I told coach Haney I wasn’t going to let him live that down because he’s known for getting up and down,” Clifford said.

Steubenville will face No. 2 seed John Glenn in the district championship at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Claymont High School in Uhrichsville. The Muskies defeated No. 4 seed St. Clairsville, 70-52, in the other semifinal on Wednesday.

“It’s tourney time,” Bickerstaff said. “We want to make it to regionals and get past that.”

(Grimm can be reached atagrimm@heraldstaronline.com)

Steubenville 64, Harrison Central 47

Harrison Central 11-11-18-7 — 47

Steubenville 15-21-14-14 — 64

HARRISON CENTRAL (17-7): Mitchell 10 9-12 32; Muckle 1 2-2 4; Dalton 1 0-0 2; Stine 1 0-1 2; Taylor 1 2-2 5; Rogers 0 0-0 0; Capers 0 0-0 0; West 0 0-2 0; Mazeroski 0 0-0 0; Vermillion 0 0-0 0; Santille 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 15 13-19 47.

STEUBENVILLE (18-5): Rauch 3 2-2 8; J. Jones 4 0-0 8; Bickerstaff 6 0-0 12; J. Zimmerman 3 6-7 12; Roundtree 3 4-4 10; Wallace 1 1-4 4; Biasi 0 0-0 0; Krause 0 0-0 0; Duggan 0 0-0 0; Bracone 1 0-0 2; T. Jones 3 0-0 8; McCoy 0 0-0 0; C. Zimmerman 0 0-0 0; Clevenger 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24 13-17 64.

3-POINT GOALS: Harrison Central 3 (Mitchell 2, Taylor); Steubenville 2 (T. Jones 2). ASSISTS: Harrison Central 10 (Muckle 3); Steubenville 18 (J. Zimmerman 7). REBOUNDS: Harrison Central 20 (West 5); Steubenville 25 (J. Jones 6). TURNOVERS: Harrison Central 20; Steubenville 9.

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