Marshall County and McCracken County met for the third time this season on Friday, each with a win over their First Region rival. It was the Mustangs taking Friday’s win 67-60, now leading the all-time series over the Marshals 22-5.
A slow offensive start for the Marshals found them trailing the Mustangs 11-5 at the end of the first quarter.
Tommy Robertson provided the spark they needed to open the second quarter, scoring their first six points to trim the Mustangs lead to 15-11. McCracken County stretched their lead to nine at 20-11 on a three-point play by Grayson Parrish and bucket by Jackson Klope. Matthew Langhi drained a three, then followed it up with two free throws to trim the lead to 20-17 and a final shot before the halftime buzzer by Alex Staples kept the Marshals within three points at 22-19.
Langhi scored to open the second half and pull the Marshals to within one point before the Mustangs built up a 10-point lead at 34-24 in part on three’s from Dylan Jackson and Owen Grogan. Staples, Ryan Stokes, Orrin Phelps and Kaden Mohler combined for the next 12 Marshall County points to pull to within seven at 43-36 heading into the final eight minutes.
After trailing by as many as 12 points in the fourth quarter, the Marshals trimmed it to five at 52-47 on a three-pointer by Staples. They cut the Mustangs lead to five again after trailing by 10 points with a minute remaining on four straight free throws by Langhi.
With 34 seconds left on the clock, a corner three by Langhi cut the lead down to four points but successful trips to the free throw line for the Mustangs finished out their six-point win.
Langhi led the Marshals scoring with 20 points followed by Staples with 14. Conner Miller led the Mustangs with 17, Klope had 15 and Jackson finished with 14.
Marshall County heads back to Paducah today for a 3:00 game at St. Mary (19-9) then finish up the regular season at Madisonville-North Hopkins (15-12) on Tuesday. They will play Calloway County on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 in the 4th District Tournament at Murray High.
Marshall 5 14 17 24 – 60
McCracken 11 11 21 24 – 67
Marshall (18-7): Matthew Langhi 20, Alex Staples 14, Tommy Robertson 9, Orrin Phelps 5, Ryan Stokes 5, Logan Parker 4, Kaden Mohler 3
Marshall: FG 19/44, 3PT 7/19 (Langhi 2, Staples 2), FT 15/20 (Langhi 8/11), Reb 15
McCracken (22-7): Conner Miller 17, Jackson Klope 15, Dylan Jackson 14, Grayson Parrish 9, Owen Grogan 5, Jay Martin 3, Caden Fulcher 2, Zander Smith 2
McCracken: FG 22/39, 3PT 4/14 (Jackson 2), FT 19/22 (Jackson 6/6), Reb 26 (Klope 10)
