Staff photo / Preston Byers Campbell’s DJ Lambert (3) tries to finish a layup through contact during the Red Devils’ home win vs. Mineral Ridge on Tuesday.

CAMPBELL — Mineral Ridge entered the Campbell Memorial D’Amato Fieldhouse on Tuesday undefeated, but by the time the Rams left, they had the first blemish on their young season’s record.

Despite having three losses in four games to start the first season for new head coach Paolo DePasquale, the Red Devils came ready to play early and held on late for a 44-39 win.

“I thought we played our butts off,” DePasquale said. “We’re a young group — we started two freshmen and a sophomore tonight — so there’s going to be ups and downs, but we’re starting to piece it together and understand we’re going to win games with our athleticism on the defensive end.”

Mineral Ridge head coach Marcus Higgs said he warned his team that Campbell might be “hungrier” than the Rams. And his warning quickly became reality, as the Devils got out to a 14-8 first-quarter lead, thanks in large part to nine points by Jawaun Johnson.

Although Ridge recovered and slowed Johnson, who did not score the rest of the game, the Rams could not make a dent in the deficit and entered the half down 26-20.

“At times, we get satisfied at practice, and that was my message to these guys yesterday. We can’t have a practice like we did yesterday and expect to go in and continue to be unbeaten,” Higgs said.

Much like the first half, the Devils came out of the break better than the Rams and extended their lead to 10 with a basket by DJ Lambert with 5:15 to go in the third quarter. At that point, however, Ridge slowly but surely found its footing and began its comeback.

Over a span of four-and-a-half minutes, the Rams stormed back into the game with an 11-2 run, which almost was enough to give them the lead. Campbell, though, held on to the advantage with a pair of missed Ram free throws and a much-needed bucket by Bobby Rameriz with 45 seconds left in the quarter.

Both teams’ offenses receded in the final period; after a Landon Bingham field goal 15 seconds into the quarter to tie the game at 37, the teams only mustered one more basket each for the rest of the game. For Campbell, crucially, its basket was a 3-pointer by Rameriz, which helped keep the Devils in front by one while Ridge missed free throws and field goals down the stretch.

In the final three minutes, the Rams missed a pair of foul shots and a floater, as well as a hook shot after a clutch takeaway with over a minute remaining, all of which would have given them the lead.

Despite that, they had one more opportunity to cut the lead or even tie the game at 42 with under 30 seconds on the clock, but Chase Moore, Ridge’s star post player and the focal point of Campbell’s defense, had the ball ripped out of his hands in the paint, allowing Rameriz to recover the loose ball and Keniel Alvarez to ice the game with a pair of successful free throws.

“We’re still learning a lot, but as long as you’re playing hard — I preach to them all the time, if you’re at least even on the rebounds and win the turnovers, you’re always gonna have a shot to win. And we did that tonight,” DePasquale said.

On the night, Lambert scored 10 points and was the only Devils player to finish in double figures, although Johnson and Jeff Driskell each had nine and Rameriz contributed eight. Moore scored a game-high 12 points for the Rams, and Derrick Hester had 10.

With the win, Campbell is now 2-3 on the season and 2-2 in Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) Scarlet play. The Red Devils, coincidentally, will get another chance to hand a team their first loss when they play unbeaten McDonald on the road on Friday.

As for the Rams, they remain near the top of the league standings at 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the MVAC. Ridge will travel to Berlin Center to play Western Reserve on Friday.