Marshall County’s Marshals spent the past three days in Richmond, Ky. playing in the Richmond Car and Truck Holiday Classic and finished tournament runner-up. They lost to South Laurel 62-52 in the championship game on Friday.
To get to the championship game, the Marshals beat Green County 65-52 and Madison Central 60-55. The Marshals overcame double digit deficits to pull out both of those wins but were unable to pull out a third straight come from behind victory after trailing South Laurel by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter.
Coming into Friday’s game against South Laurel, Alex Staples was riding a two-game tournament average of 27.5 points per game, but the junior left the game with an injury early in the second half and finished with four points.
Staples scored 22 in the win over Green County and a career high 33 points in Thursday’s win over Madison Central where he was a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line.
Against South Laurel in the championship, the Marshals held a 12-9 lead at the end of the first quarter but trailed 24-19 at halftime. South Laurel’s Jordan Mabe scored nine of the Cardinal’s 15 second quarter points to fuel the five-point lead.
Tommy Robertson opened the second half with a three pointer that cut the South Laurel lead to two but the Cardinals went on to outscore the Marshals by four to lead 41-32 at the end of the third quarter.
South Laurel pushed their lead to 15 points in the fourth quarter, going to the free throw line 22 times and hitting 17, en route to the 10-point win.
Matthew Langhi led Marshall County with 15 points and went 7-of-8 at the free throw line. Mabe scored 28 for South Laurel and went to the free throw line 21 times and converted on 14.
Marshall 12 7 13 20 – 52
S. Laurel 9 15 17 21 – 62
Marshall (9-4): Matthew Langhi 15, Tommy Robertson 12, Logan Parker 8, Alex Staples 4, Ryan Stokes 4, Kyzer Phillips 4, Cash Henson 3, Kaden Mohler 2
Marshall: 3PT (Robertson 3, Parker 1), FT 14/19 (Langhi 7/8)
S. Laurel (9-2): Jordan Mabe 28, Colton Rawlings 12, Jordan Steele 8, Joshua Steele 7, Landon Howard 3, Garrison Brown 2
S. Laurel: 3PT (Rawlings 1, Howard 1), FT 28/39 (Mabe 14/21, Rawlings 7/8)
Dec. 27 – Marshall County 65, Green County 52
Marshall 9 11 21 24 – 65
Green Co. 12 18 17 5 – 52
Marshall: Alex Staples 22, Tommy Robertson 12, Matthew Langhi 9, Logan Parker 6, Kyzer Phillips 6, Orrin Phelps 4, Ryan Stokes 4, Kaden Mohler 2
Marshall: FG 26/52, 3PT 3/10 (Phillips 2, Robertson 1), FT 10/16 (Staples 4/5, Langhi 3/4), Reb 33 (Langhi 11)
Green Co. (6-5): Hayden Blakeman 21, Tanner Willis 10, Jayden Marr 8, Eli Bishop 6, Kelson McKinney 5, Houston Hodges 2
Green Co.: FG 19/47, 3PT 4/21, FT 10/17, Reb 20
Dec. 28 – Marshall County 60, Madison Central 55
Marshall 9 10 20 21 – 60
Madison Central 14 15 14 12 – 55
Marshall: Alex Staples 33, Tommy Robertson 9, Kyzer Phillips 8, Logan Parker 4, Cash Henson 2, Ryan Stokes 2, Matthew Langhi 2
Marshall: FG 23/36, 3PT 4/8 (Phillips 2, Robertson 1, Staples 1), FT 10/10 (Staples 8/8, Robertson 2/2), Reb 21
Madison Central (4-9): Cody Morrison 23, Tye Thomas 8, Ricky Goatley 6, Eli Steele 5, Landon Ray 4, Will Richardson 3, Cam Steele 3, Luke Asher 3
Madison Central: FG 20/46, 3PT 10/25, FT 5/6, Reb 10