Big Red's Santino Haney puts up a shot against Dover on Saturday night. - Andrew Grimm

Saturday night’s East/Southeast District semifinal showdown inside the ECO Center was a perfect example.

Despite rolling to a 15-point victory in a regular season meeting, having eight more wins and being the top seed, Big Red got everything it could handle from upset-minded Dover.

However, Steubenville had a couple of key runs, made just enough shots down the stretch and fended off the Tornadoes, 63-59, to advance to the district title game.

“We told them nothing is going to be easy, it’s tournament time,” Big Red head coach Mike Haney said. “Everyone is playing for their lives; this is the seniors’ last game if you don’t win so we know everybody is going to play as hard as they can for 32 minutes.

Big Red's Tre Wiggins tries to put a shot up. - Andrew Grimm

“Wins are hard to get at tournament time, so we’re happy to get the win and move on.”

Dover (13-10), the No. 3 seed, had jumped ahead early, led at the end of the first and second quarters and put on a furious rally in the fourth after Big Red (22-1) had pulled ahead by 11 after three. Some key misses at the line by Big Red in the closing minutes also kept things interesting, but ultimately the lead was enough.

“There have been a lot of great battles between these programs over the years,” Haney said. “They played hard and came right at us.”

Santino Haney again led the way, finishing with a game-high 21 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals. Jermaine Moore knocked down four 3s and finished 6 for 6 from the field on his way to 16 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals. While they were the only two in double digits, Cole Bowers netted nine, Tre Wiggins eight and Landon Bowers seven.

It was just the third time this season Big Red was held under 70 points – and the first time since the first meeting between the teams about a month earlier.

Big Red's Cole Bowers releases a contested jumper. - Andrew Grimm

Big Red started cold, going one for the first nine from the floor as Dover led 6-2 early and held a narrow 8-7 margin after one. The Tornadoes pushed the margin to as many as seven with a 15-5 run in the second.

Big Red, though, caught fire late in the half as Moore drained treys on back-to-back possessions then forced a steal and set up another 3 by Landon Bowers, cutting the margin to 30-28 at halftime.

That momentum carried over as Big Red out-scored the Tornadoes 19-4 in the third quarter, holding Dover without a bucket in the quarter while rattling off a 14-2 run to lead 45-34 after three.

Dover, though, went on a 9-0 run midway through the fourth and got the margin as low as three in the final minute.

“They played harder than us for most of the first half until the last minute, then we started matching their intensity,” coach Haney said. “We had a good third quarter. The fourth quarter was so-so to the end, we had a couple turnovers we have to clean up and we have to do better at making our free throws. If we could have made our free throws, they would have had to rush more and it would have put more pressure on them to score quicker. It just seemed like we’d miss one, split them every time. We have to do a better job of making them.”

While Big Red did have some misses from the line that kept it close, Cole Bowers went 4 for 4 in the final quarter and that ended up being the final margin.

“He did a great job of hitting his shots and secured it,” coach Haney said.

Dover out-rebounded Big Red 21-15 and shot 55 percent overall, led by 16 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and an assist from Dieter Weber. He fouled out of the game in the final minute.

Big Red finished 46.5 percent overall and shot 52.9 percent in the second half, though they attempted nine less shots than the first half.

UP NEXT

Big Red advances to take on Chillicothe in the East/Southeast championship on Wednesday night inside the Convocation Center, home of the Ohio University Bobcats. The opening tip is set for 8:15 p.m.

“We don’t care that it’s a late game, we’ll play at midnight if we have to, we’re just happy to keep playing,” coach Haney joked.

Chillicothe (17-6), the No. 3 seed in the Southeast District, upset No. 2 seed Jackson on Friday night. Wednesday’s game is the third all-time meeting between the programs, the first since 1987. Both prior meetings with the Cavaliers also came in the tournament.

OHSAA Boys Basketball Tournament

Division III East/Southeast District semifinal

East No. 1 Steubenville 63, East No. 3 Dover 59

D 8-22-4-25 – 59

S 7-21-19-15 – 63

DOVER (13-10): Weber 6-12 2-2 16; Leggett 6-9 0-0 15; Copple 5-7 4-4 15; Van Horn 3-7 0-0 7; Nauer 1-3 2-2 2; Clark 0-1 0-0 0; Daily 1-1 0-0 2; Statler 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22-40, 8-8; 59.

STEUBENVILLE (22-1): Wiggins 3-11 2-4 8; Haney 5-13 11-17 21; Moore 6-6 0-2 16; C. Bowers 2-6 4-4 9; L. Bowers 3-6 0-0 7; Adams 0-0 0-0 0; Rea 0-0 0-0 0; Edwards 1-1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 20-45, 17-27; 63.

3-POINTERS: Dover 7-13 (Leggett 3, Weber 2, Copple, Van Horn); Steubenville 6-15 (Moore 4, C. Bowers, L. Bowers). REBOUNDS: Dover 21 (Weber 12); Steubenville 15 (Haney 3, Moore 3, C. Bowers 3). ASSISTS: Dover 9 (Van Horn 3); Steubenville 13 (Haney 6). STEALS: Dover 7 (Weber 2, Copple 2, Van Horn 2); Steubenville 9 (Moore 3). BLOCKS: Dover 1 (Nauer); Steubenville 0. TURNOVERS: Dover 19; Steubenville 10.