West Union’s Gavin Jarvis rises for a three-point attempt in the Dragons’ win over Portsmouth Clay at the 2025 Coach Young Classic. Jarvis led the winning Dragons with 16 points. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

West Union’s Gavin Jarvis rises for a three-point attempt in the Dragons’ win over Portsmouth Clay at the 2025 Coach Young Classic. Jarvis led the winning Dragons with 16 points. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

<p>West Union’s Trae Grooms blows past a Portsmouth Clay defender on his way down the baseline for two of his 12 points in the Dragons’ 61-31 win over Portsmouth Clay at Saturday’s Coach Young Classic. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)</p>

West Union’s Trae Grooms blows past a Portsmouth Clay defender on his way down the baseline for two of his 12 points in the Dragons’ 61-31 win over Portsmouth Clay at Saturday’s Coach Young Classic. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Mired in a four-game losing streak, Coach Adam Barr and the West Union Dragons snapped that streak in a big way on Saturday morning in the Coach Young Classic at North Adams High School. The Dragons matched up with the Portsmouth Clay Panthers and on the strength of an 12-0 run late in the first half hoicked up their third win of the season, easily dispatching of the Panthers by a final count of 61-31.

“We looked a lot better today than we did last night,” Coach Barr told C103 Radio in the postgame. “Our pressure defense was much better and we cut our average turnovers in half. We did a good job today playing the passing lanes and getting into transition. We also did a much better job of finishing at the rim.”

Still possibly smarting from a 25-point loss at Peebles the previous evening, the Dragons started a bit slow on Saturday, allowing the Panthers to keep the contest close through most of the first half. Clay got a couple of early three-pointers to lead 6-5 but a bucket by Billy Flaugher and a three-ball from Gavin Jarvis put West Union up 10-6, and they never trailed again. A steal and score that ended in a three-point play by Jarvis gave the Dragons a 15-8 advantage after one.

Early in the second stanza, a pair of Trae Grooms free throws kept the West Union lead stable and after Clay’s Eli Bailey cut the Dragons’ lead to 18-13, but at that point the Dragons ran off 12 straight to open up a big double digit advantage. The run began with a putback bucket by Tegan Knox and continued basket by Logan Caldwell followed by another Jarvis trey. Caldwell scored again and Grooms scored on another putback to make it 29-13. A Grooms free throw capped the run and gave his team a 30-13 lead, and after a later Grooms score a 32-16 halftime margin.

After the break, the Dragons scored on their first two possessions of the third quarter, baskets by Knox and Jarvis, and the rout was on. Leading 38-19, Coach Barr’s squad rattled off the final 10 points of period three, a three-pointer at the buzzer from Knox send the Dragons to the final quarter with a 29-point lead, 48-19.

The onslaught continued as the fourth quarter opened as the Dragons scored on their first three offensive possessions, the last of those from Darius Davis which put the OHSAA running clock rule into effect. With the game clock rapidly ticking away, the Dragons got another Jarvis three, a nice turnaround in the paint from Brylee Mills, and a final basket from Jake Thompson to cap off win number three, 61-31.

The win improved the Dragons to 3-9 on the year and they were led in scoring by Gavin Jarvis with 16 points, joined in double figures by Tegan Knox with 13 and Trae Grooms with 12. Billy Flaugher added 8 for the winners.

Portsmouth Clay was topped by 8 points from Isaiah Whitt.

The Dragons were back on their home court on Tuesday night, back in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play as they host the Whiteoak Wildcats. On Friday night, West Union will travel to Eastern Brown for another conference battle, before ending the week with a Saturday afternoon non-conference match up at Sciotoville East.

“Hopefully this gives us a little momentum going into the Whiteoak game, ” said Coach Barr. “I wasn’t upset with our effort last night at Peebles, I thought we played hard, especially in the first half. Getting a win today will hopefully help our mentality going forward.”

P. Clay

8 8 3 12 —31

West Union

15 17 16 13 —61

P. Clay (31): A. Ball 2 0-2 4, Sinclair 1 0-0 2, Rider 1 1-2 3, George 1 0-0 2, Whitt 3 0-0 8, Williams 2 1-2 5, Bailey 1 0-0 3, McCullough 1 2-2 4, Team 12 4-8 31.

W. Union (61): Daley 1 1-2 3, Jarvis 5 3-5 16, Thompson 1 0-0 2, Davis 1 0-0 2, Knox 5 0-2 13, Flaugher 4 0-0 8, Grooms 4 4-6 12, Mills 1 0-0 2, Caldwell 2 0-0 4, Team 23 8-15 61.

Three-Point Goals:

P. Clay (3)- Whitt 2, Bailey 1

W. Union (5)- Jarvis 3, Knox 2