St. Clairsville rolls past Harrison Central as winter weather cancels games

Mother Nature claimed all but one of Harrison Central’s contests last week, as much of the Ohio Valley spent the week snowed in under a blanket of freezing cold wind chills. The St. Clairsville Red Devils didn’t let the cold temps slow their game down however, as the visitors from Belmont County finished with three starters in double digits, coasting past the outmanned Huskies 75-44 Jan. 30.

The Red Devils are one of the Valley’s top teams, sporting a record of 13-5 with losses to statewide postseason mainstays like Bishop Ready and Toledo Delphos St. Johns to name a few. The Devils are talented, athletic and battle tested. A combination that was too much to handle for a rebuilding Harrison squad.

Taking all of that into consideration, the Huskies weathered the storm with the ship somewhat intact through the first eight minutes. It was a balanced scoring effort in the early going, as seniors Bryson Kamarec, Brady Hyre, and Cooper Thompson combined for nine of the Huskies 13 first quarter marks. Sophomore Lance Smith added two free throws and a bucket to keep the game within three possessions. The Red Devils responded with a balanced attack of their own, with seven different players finding the bottom of the net in the opening frame. Griffin Straub, a Division II IUP commit, led the charge with six of his game-high 17 coming in the first quarter. St. Clairsville led 21-13 at the first break.

It was the daunting second quarter that separated the two teams. The Red Devils flexed their muscle in more ways than one, outscoring the Huskies 22-6 to virtually end the game by halftime. Straub and teammate Luke Schafer combined for 15-points to outpace the efforts of Hyre and freshman Colson Crothers leading into halftime. Crothers scored four second quarter points, Hyre a lone bucket.

The 43-19 intermission deficit was minimally addressed in the third, as the tally stood strong at 55-33 through 24 minutes of gameplay.

For the first time this season, Kamarec didn’t reach double digits on the card. Instead, it was Thompson and Crothers who split team high honors with 11 points each. While the Red Devils shut down the Huskies leading scorer, the senior standout is still in the top five of the OVAC for points per game at 19.5 a night. Kamarec is also second in the statistical category of three point shots made with 34, trailing Garret Carpenter of Cambridge who has drained 44.

The Huskies date with Steubenville Catholic Central that was conquered by the snowstorm will be made up President’s Day Feb. 16. This week Harrison will visit a strong Toronto team with a record of 14-3, before returning home to square off with Edison tonight Feb. 6.