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Ravenswood lights up the Civic Center

Ravenswood's Stephen Dawson (23) attempts to get a bucket as St. Joseph Central's Gabe Giampalo (40) tries to block it during Wednesday's Class A state quarterfinal matchup at the Charleston Civic Center. Photo by Jordan Holland.

CHARLESTON — Ravenswood was not going to go one-and-done in the state tournament again.

The Red Devils were just about at their best in a 62-41 win over St. Joseph Central in Wednesday’s Class A state quarterfinals at the Charleston Civic Center.

After getting bounced in the first round at state the last two years, the Mick Price-coached Devils (23-2) shot 73 percent (27 for 37) from the floor and held the Irish to a season-low 41 points to advance to Friday’s semifinals against Madonna, which defeated Fayetteville Wednesday morning.

“We were eliminated by Poca two years ago and eliminated by Bridgeport last year,” Price recalled. “These guys were all here. I know they didn’t want to go home and I’m really appreciative of the effort they gave today.

Ravenswood's Jayden Rhodes (10) handles the ball as St. Joseph Central's Garrick Hopkins defends during Wednesday's Class A state quarterfinal matchup at the Charleston Civic Center. Photo by Jordan Holland.

“I thought we really did a good job defensively today, and we’ve been a better defensive team as the year’s gone on. I thought our execution offensively was really good. I knew we needed to be really good today because first (state tournament) games are tough”

The game featured two of the top single-A players in the state in Ravenswood’s Riley Heatherington and St. Joseph’s DeAundra Murphy. Heatherington stole the show, amassing a game-high 30 points to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks. He was nearly perfect from the floor, making 13 of 14 shots.

“All the teammates just kept feeding me the ball,” Heatherington said. “They made it happen for me.

“This year, we were a little more confident going in (to state) being the two-seed.”

Murphy, who came in averaging 27 points per game, finished with 13 on 5-of-13 shooting from the field. As a team, the Irish shot 38 percent (16 for 42).

“I don’t think they were ready for me last time,” said Murphy, who scored 29 points in a 64-50 win versus Ravenswood in February at the same location. “I guess they practiced. They had guys driving me crazy. They play really good defense. Hats off to them.”

With the game tied at 8-all early, second-seeded Ravenswood scored 10 of the final 14 points of the opening period to take an 18-12 lead. The Devils’ first double-digit lead came midway through the second when Heatherington drilled a deep 3-pointer followed by an inside score to make it 29-18 at the 3:51 mark. Back-to-back buckets by Hayden Mandrake and Isaiah Morgan stretched the lead to 13, and Ravenswood led 36-24 at halftime.

Jayden Rhodes’ two buckets helped the Devils score the first six points of the second half to go up by 18. They took their first 20-point lead at the 2:25 mark in the third when Heatherington scored with his left hand to make it 52-32. The largest lead of the night was 23, 62-39, after Stephen Dawson’s layup with three minutes left in the game. Noah Bolton’s bucket for St. Joseph with a minute remaining produced the final score.

“This was a one-game tournament for us,” Price said. “We’re still in our regional. (St. Joseph) is in our region. Everybody else is playing in the state tournament against somebody. That’s still our regional and that’s how good our region is. So that’s a little different. Everybody else got to play someone from some place else but we didn’t. We’re playing a team out of our region, so that’s a pretty good seven seed.”

Ravenswood dominated in several areas of the game, including points in the paint (44-16) and rebounding (28-11). Dawson, who finished with a 10-point, 14-rebound double-double, was a big reason.

“Me and Riley being 6-foot-5 and 6-7, we had a little advantage,” Dawson said. “People just kept feeding us the ball and me and Riley work down there really well together.”

Though Heatherington scored nearly half the team’s points, it was a total team effort from Ravenswood. All five starters had at least three assists, led by Mandrake’s five. Morgan finished with 10 points and six boards, while Rhodes chipped in eight points and three assists.

For the Irish, Garrick Hopkins tallied 10 points and a team-high five dimes. Nobody else from St. Joseph reached double figures in scoring, as the Irish couldn’t get shots to fall and had no answer for Ravenswood’s offense.

“Hats off to Ravenswood,” said St. Joseph Central head coach Ross Scaggs. “They came ready and they came prepared. We couldn’t get pressure on them. The biggest thing was they could go over the trap because they were bigger than us.

“Three for 15 from three — we’re a better shooting team than that, but not today. But I’m really proud of our kids. Give all the credit to Ravenswood.”

The Red Devils now will turn their attention to Madonna for Friday’s matchup.

“It’s on to one of the best days in all of sports in West Virginia, and that is semifinal Friday,” Price said.

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