Marshall County’s boys team traveled to Benton, Ill. on Saturday to play Mascoutah, Ill. in the Rich Herrin Classic. Back to business less than 24 hours after they dropped their first game of the season on Friday to Calloway County.
The Marshals held off a good Mascoutah Indians team to get their 24th win of the season by a final score of 71-64.
Matthew Langhi led a trio of players in double figures with 25 points, Kyzer Phillips finished with 18 and Alex Staples had 17. As a team, the Marshals were 12-of-15 at the free throw line, Staples hitting 7-of-7. They made seven 3-pointers led by Phillips with three.
Phillips opened the game with a couple of free throws then hit his first 3-pointer for an early 5-5 tie. Eight straight points from Mascoutah’s Steven Hollins put the Indians up by five at 16-11. Hollins run was answered with seven straight points from Langhi to put the Marshals back on top by two. Staples scored to end the quarter on a 20-16- lead.
Langhi and Mascoutah’s Maddis Fearn exchanged 3-pointers to open the tightly contested second quarter. The Indians tied the game up at 29 on a basket by Jayden McCoo. A three by Langhi and two more from beyond the arc from Neyland Jezik put the Marshals on top 38-34 before a basket at the buzzer for the Indians from Corey Harris trimmed the lead to two at halftime.
A string of six straight points by Langhi gave the Marshals a 44-39 lead and they stretched it out to as many as 11 points in the third quarter. The hard to shake Indians team drew the game to within five points, cutting the Marshals advantage to 52-47 to end the quarter.
Mascoutah took a 55-54 lead in the fourth quarter that was wiped out on a 10-0 run from the Marshals. Phillips scored eight of the 10 points in the run, going on to finish with 11 in the quarter. The remaining eight of the 19 points in the fourth were scored by Staples and the senior duo finished out the Marshals win by seven.
The Marshals will be in action again on Tuesday when they host Mayfield (17-7) at 7:30.
Marshall County 20 38 52 71
Mascoutah 16 36 47 64
Marshall County (24-1): Matthew Langhi 25, Kyzer Phillips 18, Alex Staples 17, Neyland Jezik 7, Tommy Robertson 2, Ryan Stokes 2
Mascoutah (15-11): Jayden McCoo 18, Steven Hollins 15, Corey Harris 15, Matt Smith 10, Maddis Fearn 6