MAYFIELD – Trailing 7-2 in the first quarter, the Marshals pulled to within one point of Graves County following a three from D.J. Pigg and basket by Dylan Walters but the Eagles would close out the quarter with a three to lead 16-11 then held the Marshals to just four points in the second quarter, a hole the Marshals were not able to come out of in their 60-35 loss to the Eagles.
“By no means do I think this is a devastating loss”, Head Coach Gus Gillespie said. “They shot the ball well over their heads and we didn’t play as well. We’ll move on and take it for what it is. I was more disappointed Tuesday night against Muhlenberg than tonight.”
Down 32-15 at halftime, the Marshals pulled to within 14 on an opening third quarter three by Pigg and would get no closer, trailing 43-24 going into the fourth quarter. Lucas Nichols came off the bench to score four points for the Marshals in the quarter with another basket added by Aaron Reed. Chris Vogt scored half of the Eagles third quarter points, highlighted by a slam dunk.
The Marshals pulled to within 15 points in the fourth quarter that was followed by a 15-5 run for the Eagles fueled by two threes from Ryan Mathis and a three from Jordyn Naranjo that led to their 25-point win. This was the seventh straight win for the Eagles over the Marshals.
“We’ve had a rough stretch and were through it and now looking at district games”, Gillespie said. “The one challenge to this team is our lack of playing defense to win. We play a very relaxed style of defense unlike typical Marshall County teams.”
Gillespie said he hopes to put more emphasis on the defensive end to fix that as the Marshals head into a district game at home on Tuesday against a 20-5 Murray High team who have won the last 8 of 9 games with the exception of their championship game loss to Cordia in the All ‘A’ State Tournament.
SCORING
Marshall: Pigg 11, Walters 8, Nichols 4, French 4, Reed 4, Riley 2, Morgan 2
Graves: Mathis 15, Vogt 12, Naranjo 10, Jones 7, Wetherington 6, Grant 6, Murphey 4
Marshall: Field Goals 14/45, 3-pointers 3/15, Free Throws 4/8, Rebounds 25, Fouls 13, Turnovers 7
Graves: Field Goals 20/38, 3-pointers 7/14, Free Throws 13/16, Rebounds 28 (Vogt 10), Fouls 13, Turnovers 10
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Marshall | 11 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 35 |
| Graves | 16 | 16 | 11 | 17 | 60 |
