Marshall County’s Marshals are the First Region Champions for the first time since 2012. Over those 12 years, they have advanced to two championship games in 2014 and 2020, McCracken County the spoiler in both.
Sunday afternoon at the CFSB Center in Murray, it was the orange and blue cutting down the nets after beating McCracken County 54-46. The Mustangs came into Sunday’s game as defending champions and it was their seventh straight appearance in the championship game.
The Marshals have had great success since their last loss to the Mustangs on February 16th, winning the next seven straight games including Sunday’s title game. Putting the pieces together at just the right time in the season.
“I think that’s part of it”, Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo said. “We look back towards the end of the year and the losses to Murray, Calloway and McCracken was really good for us. It paid off…it refocused us a little bit. I’ve told a lot of people…I still don’t think we’ve hit our season. This group is still figuring each other out kind of and we’re fortunate to kind of click at the right time.”
Tournament MVP, Matthew Langhi, scored to put the Marshals on the board first after nearly two minutes clicked off after the opening tip. Two straight baskets by Jackson Klope put the Mustangs on top and it was tied up again on a bucket by Logan Parker.
Conner Miller hit a three pointer and it was answered with a three by Kaden Mohler to tie the game up at seven. The Mustangs finished out the quarter on a 12-10 lead after Caden Fulcher dropped in a three pointer.
Mohler hit his second three of the game to tie things up again at 14 and there would be three more ties before Langhi finished the half off with five straight points to put the Marshals up 24-19 at halftime.
The Marshals carried the closing first half momentum into the second half and never allowed the Mustangs to regain the lead. The balanced scoring came from six different players and they pushed the lead to 10 points at 37-27 while containing the Mustangs and holding them to eight.
McCracken County closed the gap several times in the fourth quarter but the Marshals would find ways to extend it back out to 10 points twice, the second with 1:19 left on the clock and a 50-40 lead.
A block by Langhi began a down court series of passes that found Parker open under the goal. His basket gave the Marshals their largest lead of the game at 52-40. Miller stepped up for the Mustangs and scored their next five points to trim it to seven with 36.4 left in the game before Langhi toed the free throw line, sinking both and finishing out the 54-46 win.
“We’ve got a great group of kids who don’t shy away from working hard”, Donohoo said. “We practice hard every day and they have to love it to go through what they go through. But this makes it all worth it.”
Marshall County will meet the Fifth Region champion, Adair County, on Wednesday, Mar. 20 at 6:00 PM (EST) in the Sweet Sixteen at Rupp Arena in Lexington. Adair County (28-7) defeated Bethlehem 80-62 to advance to the state tournament.
First Region Tournament All-Tournament Team:
Josh Campbell (Paducah Tilghman)
Lincoln English (Murray)
Braden Morris (Mayfield)
Jackson Klope (McCracken County)
Matthew Langhi (Marshall County)
Drew May (Murray)
Conner Miller (McCracken County)
Alex Staples (Marshall County)
Carter Burnett (Carlisle County)
Miles Woodfork (Paducah Tilghman)
Joey Fosko Most Valuable Player: Matthew Langhi (Marshall County)
Dr. Rex Alexander Award: Kaden Bowles (Carlisle County)
Marshall 10 14 13 17 – 54
McCracken 12 7 8 19 – 46
Marshall (25-7): Matthew Langhi 17, Kaden Mohler 9, Ryan Stokes 8, Alex Staples 6, Orrin Phelps 5, Logan Parker 4, Tommy Robertson 4, Kyzer Phillips 1
McCracken (26-8): Jackson Klope 15, Conner Miller 14, Caden Fulcher 6, Owen Grogan 5, Dylan Jackson 4, Grayson Parish 2
