Nick Spanos (center), a Mineral Ridge High School English teacher, walks down the halfcourt line with Mineral Ridge basketball players Ben Crumbacher (1) and Logan Baylor and cheerleader Addy O’Brien as Mineral Ridge held a Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night on Thursday at Mineral Ridge High School.

WEATHERSFIELD — On Thursday, the Mineral Ridge boys basketball team honored the teachers in the school district.

Each player and cheerleader selected a teacher to celebrate in between the JV and varsity games against Campbell at Mineral Ridge High School.

And the educators got to watch the Rams beat Campbell 51-42 as an added bonus.

“I’ve been here 18 years, so I’ve known these kids since they were young boys and girls, and now they’re young men and young women,” said Nick Spanos, an English teacher at Mineral Ridge High School. “It’s really cool, and it’s a good thing to build that special bond with them. I’m here for them, but the fact that they recognize that we support them, it’s really nice.”

On the court, Chase Moore’s double-double performance put the Rams in position to win. He finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds after Mineral Ridge needed a boost in the second half.

“It was just my teammates were able to find me inside, and I was able to put it in the hoop,” Moore said. “It’s really all up to my teammates to find me inside.”

DJ Lambert accounted for Campbell’s first nine points, all of them coming from behind the arc. However, the Rams (12-4, 8-4 Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference Scarlet Tier) went on a 10-0 run in the final few minutes of the first to take a 16-9 lead.

Both offenses went cold in the second quarter. Campbell (8-6, 7-5 MVAC Scarlet) and Mineral Ridge combined for six points through the first five minutes.

In the third, the Rams had some more success offensively when they worked through forward Chase Moore. The big man scored the first six points of the quarter, as well as the Rams’ first eight.

Moore scored 10 points in the period, and the Rams led 40-28 at the end of the third.

“Honestly, he was our savior at the end of the day. When you needed a bucket, he was able to get one, and that’s who he’s been all year,” Mineral Ridge head coach Marcus Higgs said. “They played us man tonight. A lot of teams play us zone, but he was able to take advantage of their size inside a lot.”

Ridge started to slow things down on the offensive end, opting for longer possessions to set up shots. But the Devils found some offense off turnovers, and a layup by Keniel Alvarez with 3:14 to play cut the deficit to 46-39.

The Red Devils made it a six-point game, but the Rams were in an opportune position. The Devils only committed one foul by the 1:30 mark, so they had to burn time to get over the limit. And with each possession, the Rams continued to work the clock.

Eventually, a couple trips to the free-throw line clinched the game for Ridge.

“I told the kids after the game, I feel like we’ve been a little spoiled. Since the beginning of Christmas break, we’ve been shooting the ball well from the outside, and we haven’t really had a cold night up until tonight,” Campbell head coach Paolo Depasquale said. “I usually tell them two shots. Two shots and the next three better come off a paint touch, and we didn’t do a good job with that tonight. But they’ll learn from it, and we’ll get better.”

Jawaun Johnson led Campbell with 14 points. Alvarez finished with 10, and Lambert had nine.

Landon Bingham tallied 13 points for the Rams, and Kaden Shaffer and Thomas Koniowsky each added five.

The girls basketball team will hold a similar appreciation night tonight when it takes on Campbell. The opening tip to the girls’ game is set for 7 p.m.

“They taught us so many life lessons throughout the years, especially me,” Moore said of the teachers. “My last year here, I learned so much from these teachers, and it’s great to have them in my life.”