STEUBENVILLE — The Catholic Central boys basketball team came out strong against Clay-Battelle, and the Crusaders punched their ticket to the OVAC Tournament Final.

Top-seeded Catholic Central tallied the first nine points, and the Blue-and-Gold extended their advantage to 16 points in the second quarter en route to a 63-52 victory against the fourth-seeded Cee-Bees in an OVAC Class 2A Tournament Semifinal Tuesday night inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium.

“One of our issues this season has been playing hard from the tip,” Catholic Central (17-4) head coach Don Ogden said. “Our guys came out with intensity at the start of the game. We pushed the ball at the beginning of the game, and we played disciplined defense.

“That downside of that is in the second and third quarters, we played undisciplined. You have to give Clay-Battelle credit. They started playing downhill a lot, and they either made it or got the call. I am not saying I disagree with the calls, I’m just saying we either fouled them or they got the score.

“Overall, we held our composure. I could not be prouder of these guys.”

With the win, Catholic Central will take on No. 2 seed Toronto in the tournament final at 4 p.m. down at the ECO Center in St. Clairsville. Toronto advanced to the tournament final by defeating No. 3 seed Caldwell, 62-35, in the other semifinal Tuesday night inside the George J. Kunzler Memorial Gymnasium. The Crusaders and the Red Knights (16-5) have not played each other this season.

“We were not allowed to play them this season,” Ogden said. “It is nice to have two towns close together represent Class 2A in the OVAC Final.

“They are a good team. They have good shooters. They are well coached. We are going to have our hands full.

“We wanted to make it down there, and we did that tonight. Here we go.”

Four players produced double figures in scoring for Catholic Central. Individually, Benji Rook recorded a team-high 19 points, Timmy Mihalyo and Andrew Rohde each delivered 13 points and Tommy Pergi tallied 10 points.

Preston Luzader produced a game-high 23 points to lead the way for the visitors, while Cooper Payton collected 21.

After scoring the first nine points of the first quarter, the boys from Jefferson County extended their advantage to 17-3 before taking a 17-5 lead into the second.

The boys in white continued to play well in the second as they increased their advantage to 16 points – 31-15 – with less than two minutes left to play in the first half. The hosts took a 33-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Clay-Battelle battled back in the third as the boys from Monongalia County closed to within 44-33 entering the fourth. The Crusaders led 42-26 at one point in the quarter.

Both teams scored 19 points in the fourth.

“The deficit stayed the same in the second half of the third quarter and in the fourth quarter,” Ogden said. “We were able to match their shots with our own buckets. For the most part, we did a great job finishing the game with our foul shots.”

Clay-Battelle and Caldwell will meet in the consolation final Friday night.

Catholic Central 63, Clay-Battelle 52

Clay-Battelle 5 15 13 19 – 52

Catholic Central 17 16 11 19 – 63

CLAY-BATTELLE (11-5): Morgan 1 1-2 3, B. Ponceroff 0 3-4 3, White 1 0-0 2, Payton 6 7-12 21, Coen 0 0-0 0, Moats 0 0-0 0, Luzader 8 6-8 23. TOTALS: 16 17-26 52.

CATHOLIC CENTRAL (17-4): Rook 6 5-8 19, Mitchell 1 2-2 4, Mihalyo 3 6-9 13, Krupp 0 0-0 0, Pergi 4 2-2 10, Rohde 5 3-5 13, Bradley 1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 20 20-28 63.

3-POINTERS: Clay-Battelle 3 (Payton 2, Luzader); Catholic Central 3 (Rook 2, Mihalyo)