RAVENSWOOD - Two teams coming off heart-breaking opening season losses met at The Pit Tuesday night and it was the homestanding Red Devils from Ravenswood that received a career-high 32 points from junior Jake Martin en route to capturing a 58-47 victory over Doddridge County.
Trailing by 11 points (33-22) at the intermission, the hosts turned up the pressure on the Bulldogs (0-2, 0-1 LKC North), outscoring their guests by a 16-6 margin in the third quarter to trail by only one, 39-38, with eight minutes remaining to be played.
That deficit was erased and the Jackson Countians took their first lead when sophomore Isaac Crow hit both ends of a one-and-one with 7:42 left in the contest. That was the start of a 13-3 run that not only push Ravenswood's lead to nine, 51-42, but sealed any chance of a Doddridge County comeback.
The visitors sliced the margin to seven, 51-44, on a inside bucket by Clayton Yeager off of a Ashton Hinzman assist. But that was as close as the green and gold clad guests would get as Heath Burgess, who finished with 13 points, drained a deuce at the 2:20 mark and the Red Devils connected on five of six free throws down the wire to pick up their first win of the season.
Doddridge County, which opened the season with a two-point, 70-68, setback at Williamstown, rode the hot shooting of Daniel Plaugher, Keith Britton and Hinzman to forge their halftime advantage.
Plaugher, who was the only Bulldog to reach double-figures with 10 points, tallied seven of his points in the first 16 minutes of action while Britton added all eight of his points in the first half and Hinzman chipped in with five.
Conversely, Ravenswood struggled to find the bucket in the first two frames as Martin basically carried the team offensively, scoring 10 points in the first quarter and finishing with 13 points at the intermission.
The key to the game was the Red Devils' full-court pressure as Ravenswood came up with 10 of its 14 steals after the break and forced a total of 15 turnovers by the Bulldogs. Martin, who chipped in with three assists and seven rebounds, led the way with seven steals.
Ravenswood will look to make it two in a row on Saturday when it travels to Parkersburg to take on Parkersburg Catholic in a North Division contest while Doddridge County will look to pick up its first win when it plays host to Tyler Consolidated on Friday.
