Hopkinsville is the defending Region 2 champion and pre-season pick to repeat this year, playing without their top senior Stephen “Shorty” Cager, and with a deceptive 5-9 record coming into their Mustang Madness game Saturday against the Marshals. The Tigers beat Fort Campbell 101-44 in Friday’s Mustang Madness game and handed the Marshals a 62-54 loss Saturday.
Struggling in the first quarter, the Marshals were down 7-0 and trailed by as many as 14 points but recovered slightly with a minute remaining on scoring by Tyler Stokes, and three’s by both Skyler Smith and Tyler Powell to trail 20-9.
Stokes scored to open the second quarter and cut the Tigers lead to nine points but their offensive struggles continued. Hopkinsville outscored the Marshals 11-2 following Stokes basket to take their largest lead of the game at 31-13. The Marshals rebounded from the 18 point deficit to out-score Hopkinsville 9-3, with points coming from Matt French with four, Stokes and Bryce Flatt with a basket each and a free throw by Austin Riley, to trail 34-22 at halftime.
The Marshals run continued in the second half, scoring the first nine points from free throws by Aaron Reed, baskets by Smith and Reed and a 3-pointer by Flatt to cut Hopkinsville’s lead to three. They tied the game at 36 but the Tigers stretched it out once again going up 44-38 at the end of the third quarter.
Powell scored the final basket of the third quarter then opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to cut the Tigers lead back to three. Freshman Alijah Watts and senior Jalen Johnson combined for Hopkinsville’s next eight points to lead 54-46 with just under two minutes remaining and both teams finished out the game with eight points a piece.
French led the Marshals with 14 points and Reed added 10 while four Tigers were in double figures led by Watts with 18.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| Marshall County | 9 | 22 | 38 | 54 |
| Hopkinsville | 20 | 34 | 44 | 62 |
SCORING
Marshall: French 13, Reed 10, Flatt 9, Powell 8, Stokes 8, Smith 4, Riley 2
Hopkinsville: Watts 18, Nicholas 13, Johnson 12, Smith 11, Burks 4, Toliver 2, Victor 2