FIGHTING HARD — Big Red’s Brenton Jones fights off a host of Martins Ferry defenders to get a shot off during Thursday’s game inside the Crimson Center. -- Michael D. McElwain

STEUBENVILLE — The Big Red boys basketball team wants to push the tempo.

After falling behind 15-1 in the first quarter, Martins Ferry was forced to pick up the pace playing into Big Red’s hands. Big Red led by as many as 22 points in the third en route to a 61-45 victory Thursday night inside the Crimson Center.

“We got off to a real good start,” Big Red (5-3) head coach Mike Haney said. “We were able to get out early. I think Ivan Buggs scored the first seven points for us. He did a great job. We got some rebounds, and we were able to pass the ball up the court to him. We got some assists. Defensively, we did a good job up until the last 30 seconds when they got a couple of baskets. We had a couple of turnovers there.”

After falling behind by double digits early on, the Purple Riders were forced to give up their game plan.

“You can’t start by being 15-1 down on the road,” Martins Ferry (1-6) head coach Derek Edwards said. “That makes it hard to get into a rhythm. It put pressure on us to score. We had to change our plan. Big Red had a lot to do with it. They are athletic, and that bothered us early on in the game. We did not adjust. We did not execute. We got out of what we wanted to do. Some of that was because of them, and some of that was because of us.

“We had to change what we wanted to do. We struggled offensively. When you get that far behind, you have to try and play up tempo.”

Big Red led by as many as 22 points (41-19) in the third.

“You want to try and get the lead,” Haney said. “When teams play zone, you want to try and get the lead so you can force their hand and make them go man. They had to regroup. Defensively in the first half, we were flying all over the court.”

Down by 22, Martins Ferry fought back as the Purple Riders scratched and clawed their way back into the game as the Purple-and-White battled back to pull within 45-32 forcing Haney to call a timeout with 1:36 left to play in the third.

“We had opportunities to cut into it even more,” Edwards said. “It is tough to win on the road, especially against a good team that is well coached when you have the type of first quarter we did. We are going to keep at it. We are going to take a couple days off and get back to practice on Sunday.”

Martins Ferry’s 13-4 run was aided by some Big Red turnovers.

“In the third, they hit a couple of 3s,” Haney said. “We had to regroup. We just had to settle down. They scored 19 points in the third which is more than they scored in the first half.

“They were able to hit a couple of shots. They went to their press. We had some turnovers. On one, we got a rebound, and we just threw the ball away. We had some bad turnovers, and they were able to him shots.”

Following the timeout, Big Red responded as the boys from Jefferson County took a 49-34 lead into the fourth.

Steubenville regained control of the game in the fourth, and they did not look back on their way to their fifth win of the season.

Inky Jones and Buggs each collected 18 points to lead the way for the hosts, while Phaeton Hill tallied 17.

Jaizen Miles netted a game-high 25 points to lead the charge for the Purple Riders, while Tevn Williams delivered seven.

“They’re young,” Haney said. “Coach Edwards does a good job with them. They fly around. They play intense defense. They do a good job. Miles had 25 for them. He did a great job.

“We are tough when we are able to get three guys in double figures. We had guys with 17, 18 and 18. That is good. I don’t know how many he ended up with, but I saw Inky Jones had 11 rebounds in the first half.”

Jones electrified the home crowd with a pair of dunks in the second half.

“He had a couple of dunks,” Haney said. “In high school basketball, a dunk can change the momentum. The crowd gets into it, you get amped up and you start playing better defense.”

After leading 15-5 at the end of the first, Big Red extended its lead to 33-15 at halftime.

The visitors from Belmont County did not throw in the towel at halftime, however, the hole they were was too big to dig out of in the second half.

Big Red will play its next two games in the annual Chuck Watt/John Nese Holiday Classic. Big Red is set to play East Liverpool at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night inside the Crimson Center before taking on Weir at 6:30 p.m. Thursday inside the Crimson Center.

Also on Tuesday, the Catholic Central boys will play Bellaire at 4:30 p.m. inside the Crimson Center, and the Big Red girls will follow against Oak Glen at 6 p.m.

Also on the girls side, city rivals Big Red and Catholic will play at 5 p.m. Thursday inside the Crimson Center.

All of the JV games played Wednesday and Thursday will be held inside the Joseph Stern Gymnasium.

Martins Ferry is scheduled to play Barnesville Thursday night on the road. The JV game is slated to start at 5:30 p.m.

Big Red 61, Martins Ferry 45

Martins Ferry 5 10 19 11 – 45

Big Red 15 18 16 12 – 61

MARTINS FERRY (1-6): Miles 10 5-8 25, Krol 0 0-0 0, L. Hores 0 0-0 0, Shriver 0 0-0 0, Shrodes 0 0-0 0, Redinger 0 0-0 0, Carte 0 0-0 0, O’Connell 1 0-0 3, Williams 3 0-0 7, Flesch 1 0-0 3, P. Hores 0 2-2, Ray 2 0-0 5. TOTALS: 17 7-10 45.

BIG RED (5-3): Hill 5 4-4 17, Buggs 7 1-2 18, Hopkins 1 0-0 2, Kernahan 0 0-0 0, Lewis 0 0-0 0, Pierce 1 0-0 2, Jones 9 0-3 18, Mullins 0 0-0 0, Vostatek 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 24 5-9 61.

3-POINTERS: Martins Ferry 4 (O’Connell, Williams, Flesch 0 0-0 0, Ray); Big Red 6 (Hill 3, Buggs 3)