Christian Fellowship Head Coach Tyler Ryan said the only thing he asks of his players is that they play hard – “You play hard and you’re going to give yourself a chance every single night.”
The Eagles embraced the role of the underdog with heart and courage – a David and Goliath story of sorts – in their final two games of the season against powerhouse programs like Graves County and Thursday’s final regular season game at Marshall County.
“We wanted to make sure that everybody knew that playing at Graves the other night – it was eight points under two minutes – that it wasn’t some type of fluke”, Ryan said.
On Tuesday, they lost 69-58 to Graves County and after cutting a fourth quarter 26 point Marshall County lead down to 10 points, the Eagles finished out their final game of the season by the same 69-58 score – and yes, they played hard.
Coach Terry Birdsong said, “I told our guys after the game how proud I was of them because we had everything to lose tonight, nothing to gain. Our kids are used to playing in that situation. Everybody wants to beat you. All the pressure’s on us most of the time and I thought our kids responded well but I know their coach has got to be awful proud of their guys.”
Marshall County was out to a 13-0 start before Andrew Dunning put CFS on the board. Holding the Eagles to 10 first quarter points – nine of which came from Dunning – the Marshals lead was 27-10 at the end of the first quarter. Cole Mills had six points and Kole Sedlock five to lead the Marshals.
CFS out-scored the Marshals 16-14 in the second quarter, getting five points each from Dunning and Luke Grigg – both closing out the half with 3-pointers. Sedlock’s six points in the quarter led the Marshals and the lead was 15 at 41-26 going into the halftime break.
“I know starting the game, they kind of had some of those jitters”, Ryan said. “It’s Marshall County…it’s a big program…and they are, but I don’t want them to be thinking about that. I want them to be thinking about basketball.”
The Marshals opened the second half on a 10-0 run – Zion Harmon dropping in a couple of 3-pointers – to stretch the lead to 51-26. Dunning continued to fire up the Eagles with eight of their 12 third quarter points but they trailed the Marshals by 22 going into the fourth quarter.
Sedlock gave Marshall County the first four points of the quarter for their largest lead of the game at 64-38 but the Eagles weren’t going away. Down 66-40, CFS went on a 16-0 run getting the first nine points from Grigg followed by seven straight from Andrew Allen, to cut the Marshals lead down to 10 at 66-56.
Dunning picked up his fifth foul, committed against Riley Smith who hit both at the line to stop the Eagles run. Another one at the line by Smith and a final basket by Grigg for CFS finished out the Marshals 11 point win.
“Mentality has been the biggest thing that I’ve tried to overcome with these kids and it’s just amazing what they’re capable of when they have people who believe in them”, Ryan said. “You could hear the fans, the parents, the coaching staff that supports them and encourages them and that’s what I kept telling them…don’t give in, don’t give up, don’t put your head down, keep playing hard…and they do. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Dunning had a big night for CFS, the sophomore leading the Eagles with 22 points. Harmon and Sedlock led the Marshals with 15 points each.
“I knew we could compete…I’m not saying we should have come in here and win by any means…but I knew we could come in and compete and at least give them a game and we did exactly that”, Ryan said.
CFS finishes out the season with a 19-9 record and will return all but Allen who is the only senior on the squad.
The season continues for the Marshals (11-8) on Monday at the Murray State CFSB Center when they meet the winner of the 4th District semi-final between Murray and Calloway County.
CFS 10 16 12 20 – 58
Marshall 27 14 19 9 – 69
CFS: Dunning 22, L. Grigg 16, Allen 13, Hovekamp 7
Marshall: Harmon 15, Sedlock 15, R. Smith 10, Mills 10, Driver 7, Q. Smith 6, Schroader 3, Ives 2, Miller 1
Photo gallery (click on photos to scroll and view larger image)
