The Martins Ferry Purple Riders basketball team (Martins Ferry, OH), was nudged 47-42 in Monday's league battle with the host St. Clairsville Red Devils (St. Clairsville, OH)

The Red Devils (7-4) will now prepare for their outing against Bellaire (Bellaire, OH). The Big Reds go into the Buckeye 8 outing with a 7-4 record. In their last outing, Bellaire held off Buckeye Local (Rayland, OH), 64-30, in a league outing.

The Purple Riders now hold a 6-6 record. They play next when they host Union Local for a Buckeye 8 outing on Thursday, January 6. Martins Ferry will clash with a Jets squad coming off a 64-22 league win over Cambridge (Cambridge, OH). The Jets record now stands at 7-2.