Coming off an emotional win over McCracken County on Tuesday, the Marshals tipped off against rival Graves County on Friday. They won 74-59 in their first game this season on December 9, but it would be the Eagles night in Reed Conder Gymnasium earning the split with a 56-50 win.
“It was one of those nights we just didn’t have it on either end”, Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo said to WCBL. “We talked about it before the game, the importance of one-on-one defense so that we don’t have to help and then they get those shooters open. We didn’t do that very well. We let them get in the paint and spread us out.”
The shooters being Lukas Pigg, former Marshall County player Cole Mills and Briley VeuCasovic who combined for 10 of their 11 3-pointers. Pigg and Mills led the Eagles in scoring with 17 a piece.
After leading by as many as six in the first quarter, Graves County was up 13-10 near the end of the quarter and held for the final basket, but Wade Moore came up with the steal, passing the ball off to Alex Staples who laid it in to cut the lead down to one.
Pigg and Logan Parker exchanged 3-pointers to open the second quarter followed by two more from beyond the arc for the Eagles from VeuCasovic and Mills to stretch the lead to 22-15. A steal and basket from Moore, three by Hunter Wallace and another three from the top of the key by Moore before the buzzer put the Marshals up 23-22 at halftime.
All 12 of the Eagles third quarter points came from 3-point range but the Marshals kept answering and took a 36-34 lead despite Graves County killing the clock for nearly two minutes and missing the scoring attempt before the quarter ended.
With four minutes remaining and tied up at 41, Moore scored to put the Marshals back up by two. Pigg tied it up again then hit his fourth three of the night to put the Eagles back up by three.
Trailing the Eagles by five with 1:45 left on the clock, the Marshals began to foul which worked to their favor. A three and a couple of free throws from Trey Wall cut it to 50-48 with 52.9 seconds to go but trailing by two again at 52-50, the Marshals sent Mills and Pigg to the line in the closing seconds for the Eagles final four points of the game.
“You’ve got to give them credit”, Donohoo said. “They knocked down shots. They executed their game plan well. Losses happen, we’re in a good spot. All that matters right now is how we respond to this. Not going to hit the panic button. We’re going to do what we do. At the end of the day today, it just wasn’t enough…we didn’t have it.”
Moore led the Marshals in scoring with 13 points and Wall finished with 11. They had seven 3-pointers led by Wall with three and were 3-of-7 at the free throw line. It was just their fourth loss of the season and their record stands at 13-4.
The Eagles improve to 6-11.
Marshall County 12 11 13 14 – 50
Graves County 13 9 12 22 – 56
Marshall County: Wade Moore 13, Trey Wall 11, Orrin Phelps 7, Alex Staples 6, Hunter Wallace 5, Tommy Robertson 5, Logan Parker 3
Graves County: Lukas Pigg 17, Cole Mills 17, Briley VeuCasovic 10, Braden Waller 8, Taytum Holland 4
