The last time Martins Ferry won an OVAC basketball tournament championship, current head coach Derek Edwards was in his first season at the helm.
The former all-Ohio guard for the Riders returned to coach at his alma mater, taking over for Ferry’s longtime and ultra-successful mentor, Jeff Sabatino. That was back in 2017.
Edwards’ Purple Riders finished the OVAC regular season rankings at 18-1, earning the top seed in the tournament. The team, led by senior big man Zac Selby, Ferry took care of third-seeded Buckeye Trail in the finale, 64-47, after beating No. 4 seed Linsly, 58-55, in overtime.
Now in Edwards’ seventh season, he’s seeing a lot of similarities in that season’s team and the current crop of Purple Riders who, at present, sport a spotless 14-0 record heading into the home stretch of the regular season.
The Riders are currently the top seed in Class 3A. They will remain that way too. No. 2 seed Caldwell, even with wins against Fort Frye and Shenandoah in its next two games, won’t bump its average enough to overtake the Purple Riders. That lead in average is 68.14 to 51.63.
“I think we have a similar team to that one,” Edwards said. “I think we’re more capable of making it hard on teams to defend us from the perimeter this year in comparison to that.
“I think defensively, we’ve evolved much better, transitioning more from zone concepts to a man concept and we play mostly man now.
“There are some comparisons, but we are a far different team in some aspects. We’re able to score at a more consistent rate. This team can really score at all levels.”
Selby was the lone returner on the 2017 team. This season, the Riders had to overcome the loss of five seniors, including all-Ohio performer Jaizen Miles.
It was a concern coming in when you lose five seniors,” Edwards said. “We knew it’d be challenging replacing all of that experience, especially Miles, who could defend, score, and rebound.
“We’ve had guys step up and some guys have really developed faster than we expected, and that’s a credit to them and their commitment to this program.”
But this time around, the Riders had a few key pieces, including one of the Ohio Valley’s top underclassmen providing a nice foundational piece.
They received another when a junior from Linsly opted to come to Ferry for his final season.
Talented Tandem Lights It Up
That aforementioned sophomore’s name is Alexander Reese. He’s 6-5, strong and agile, and he showed more than flashes as a freshman when he average 14.5 points a game.
He’s bumped up that scoring average considerably, leading the Purple Riders at 22.4 per game. A rebounding machine, it’s a rare night when Reese doesn’t pull a double-double.
That other foundation piece who formerly wore Orange and Black? That would be senior Denali Jackson. A 6-0 guard, Jackson beats defenders off the dribble and makes it look effortless.
Dangerous with the ball in his hand, he’s formed a formidable 1-2 punch with Reese. His average? He’s second on the team at 22 points per game.
The team averages 67.2 per game, so more than half comes from Reese and Jackson. That’s not to say the rest of the team is incapable of scoring. They can, and do score.
In last week’s road win at rival Bellaire, senior guard Gage O’Connell went for nine points and junior Mason Redinger went for eight and six.
Fellow senior and big man Landyn Hores can post up and pull down boards in the paint as well,
In a more recent win against Monroe Central, O’Connell hit for 13 while freshman Anthony Booth totaled 10. Sophomore Tev’n Williams has hit double figures on multiple occasions.
Plenty of scorers, coupled with a strong nightly defensive effort that sees teams averaging only 50.5 points against is a big reason the Riders are sitting pretty with Tuesday’s OVAC cutoff looming.
“We want to be a balanced team that can attack from both the inside and outside,” Edwards said. “It all depends on what the situation calls for. We’re back to making the right plays and trusting the guys you’re out there with, trusting them to make the right plays.
“They’ve really bought into that. The trust level between them is at a very high level.”
And with the OVAC rapidly approaching, and the Ohio postseason beyond that, that’s exactly the type of play Edwards is looking for out of his charges.
