Two top 10 ranked teams in the state squared off in the 4th District Championship game on Thursday at Calloway County High School. Marshall County and Calloway County split their regular season games. The Marshals beat the Lakers on their home court in the first meeting 79-52 and the Lakers won 65-60 in the second at Reed Conder Gymnasium, handing them their first loss of the season.
Calloway County was not having a repeat loss to Marshall County on their home court in the title game and it was evident from the opening tip as the Lakers beat the Marshals 67-56 to win their first district championship in three years.
“So many facets of the game I feel like they won and honestly I feel like they wanted it more than we did”, Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo said in post-game comments to WCBL’s Jeff Waters. “I feel like we came in here and they pushed us around.”
Everything was falling for the Lakers and they quickly took advantage of a rough start offensively for the Marshals with an early 9-0 lead. Tommy Robertson sank a three to get the Marshals on the board but a 9-0 run by Calloway County followed on three consecutive 3-pointers from Eli Finley and two by Conner Lockhart.
After trailing 18-3, the Marshals outscored the Lakers 8-4 but finished out the first quarter down 22-11.
The Marshals trimmed the Calloway lead down to eight at 25-17 on a put back basket by Kyzer Phillips but the Lakers pushed their lead back out to 15 points behind six points from Finley and took a 34-21 lead into the halftime break.
A basket by Jonah Butler and 3-pointer from Stephen Lane out of the break set the second half tone for the Lakers. They were up by 21 points at 54-33 to end the third quarter, outscoring the Marshals 20-12. Matthew Langhi had eight and Robertson with four, all of his from the free throw line.
A basket by Finley to open the fourth quarter gave the Lakers a 23-point lead, their largest of the night.
A seemingly insurmountable deficit was cut down to nine points (63-54) with under a minute to go behind the play of the Marshall County bench players Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo sent into the game midway through the quarter.
Four 3-pointers fueled the Marshals late-game run against the Calloway County starters, three from Isaac Darnall and one from Maxson Mitchell. A basket on a put back by Blake Moore trimmed the Lakers lead to nine once again at 65-56 in the closing seconds before falling by 11 at the final buzzer.
“We still have everything we need”, Donohoo said. “Hopefully this is a wakeup call. We woke them up the first game this season…they’re awake now. Our guys have to wake up. It’s still there for the taking but we’ve got to be better than we were tonight.”
Both teams will move on to next week’s Region 1 Tournament at Murray State University. The tournament draw will take place on Saturday at Marshall County High School.
Langhi finished with 18 points to lead the Marshals and Robertson had 12. Finley led Calloway with 25 points and was 13-of-15 at the free throw line. Butler followed with a 21-point night.
All-District Team:
Marshall County: Alex Staples, Matthew Langhi, Kyzer Phillips, Tommy Robertson
Calloway County: Eli Finley, Jonah Butler, Conner Lockhart
Murray: Maddox Mitchell, Harris Moore
Christian Fellowship: Elijah Grigg
Marshall County 11 21 33 56
Calloway County 22 34 54 67
Marshall County (27-2): Matthew Langhi 18, Tommy Robertson 12, Isaac Darnall 9, Kyzer Phillips 4, Maxson Mitchell 3, Neyland Jezik 2, Ryan Stokes 2, Kaden Mohler 2, Carson Lovett 2, Blake Moore 2
Calloway County (28-3): Eli Finley 25, Jonah Butler 21, Conner Lockhart 11, Stephen Lane 6, Luke Armstrong 4
Marshals vs. Calloway County, 4th District Championship
