Saturday was a night for the record books and the 2024-2025 Marshals are a new addition to it after setting a new mark for the best undefeated start in a season at 20-0. They tied the 1980-1981 Marshall County team on Friday and with Saturday’s 64-53 win over McCracken County can claim the record as their own.
They are also the only undefeated team left in the state of Kentucky.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them, they’ve earned it, but it’s been in the back of our minds for the last week or two”, Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo said of the record in post-game comments to WCBL’s Jeff Waters. “We’re ready to move on with the rest of our season. We’ve got bigger goals.”
The two teams met in the fourth game of the season and the Marshals came away with a 70-49 win but it would be a much-improved Mustangs team coming into Reed Conder Gymnasium on Saturday.
McCracken County was riding a six-game winning streak with key wins over Paducah Tilghman and Friday’s 67-63 win over Calloway County.
Alex Staples and Matthew Langhi led the Marshals in the win, each with 20 points. Langhi scored 18 of the 20 in the second half and was perfect at the free throw line hitting 7-of-7. Staples hit four of the Marshals nine 3-pointers in the game. Kyzer Phillips had three and one each from Langhi and Tommy Robertson.
A combined eight 3-pointers were made just in the first quarter starting with Staples’ first that gave the Marshals a 5-3 lead. Phillips followed it up with his first three of the night to put the Marshals on top 8-3.
Five of six 3-pointers in the quarter followed by the Mustangs to help lift them to a 17-14 lead to end the first quarter. Dylan Jackson dropped in three of the six on his way to lead McCracken County with 14 in the game.
Langhi scored to open the second quarter to trim their lead to one point but the Mustangs would go on to take their largest lead of the night of five points.
Trailing 24-19, the Marshals responded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Staples and Phillips, then a tying three from Robertson after trailing 30-27. The half ended on a long downcourt pass to Staples for the lay in before the buzzer for a two point advantage going into halftime.
Jackson started the second half with a three-point play, and a basket by Jackson Diaz gave the Mustangs the lead again. Langhi drew the Marshals to within one and then hit a 3-pointer to give them a 37-35 lead, and they would not trail again.
The Marshals finished out the third quarter with a dominant 11-3 run, leading 48-38.
Marshall County took their largest lead of 13 points in the fourth quarter following a hard-earned put back and foul shot by Phillips. They closed out the game going 6-for-6 in free throws in the final 1:58 (Langhi with 4, Stokes with 2) to close out the win.
“This is a tough group…all of them”, Donohoo said. “I’m proud of them for getting here. It was a team effort.”
The Marshals will have a few well-earned days off from competition before their next game on Thursday when they host St. Mary (14-5).
Marshall County 14 32 48 64
McCracken County 17 30 38 53
Marshall County (20-0): Alex Staples 20, Matthew Langhi 20, Kyzer Phillips 14, Tommy Robertson 9, Neyland Jezik 3, Ryan Stokes 2
McCracken County (11-8): Dylan Jackson 14, Garrett Miller 8, Jay Martin 7, Caden Fulcher 5, Maxx Tanner 5, Aaron Adams 5, Jace Dawson 4, Owen Grogan 3, Jackson Diaz 2
Marshals vs. McCracken County
