Marshall County has been on the losing end of the last 11 games against Graves County and it looked like that streak would end Thursday at Reed Conder Gymnasium. The Marshals led by as many as 27 points in the third quarter at 45-18 and held on to a 19 point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but the Eagles out-scored the Marshals 29-7 in the final quarter to win 57-54.
“You’ve got to give Graves credit”, Coach Terry Birdsong said in post-game comments. “They’ve got a veteran team… they’re the defending Region 1 champions.”
Birdsong said they knew the Eagles were going to make a run but thought if his team could get in the bonus, which they did, but hit just 12 of 22 at the line in the second half.
The Marshals led 16-7 at the end of the first quarter, eight points coming from Skyler Smith, five from Tyler Powell and three from Tyler Stokes. Matt French and Aaron Reed baskets to start the second quarter gave the Marshals a 20-7 lead. A 3-pointer by Jay Nimmo, two straight lay-ins by Reed followed by a three by Austin Riley and two free throws from Stokes gave the Marshals a 32-13 halftime lead.
Marshall County’s largest lead came in the third quarter at 45-18, but the Eagles finished out the quarter from there by out-scoring the Marshals 10-2, still trailing by 19 going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter belonged to Graves County who out-scored the Marshals 29-7. Up by one at 52-51 with 1:47 to go, a Marshall foul on Jordyn Naranjo sent him to the line to tie the game at 52. A Marshall turnover led to a foul on Tae Shannon who hit one at the line to give the Eagles a one point lead, their first lead of the game. Stokes was fouled by Brenden Young with 30 seconds to go, making both to put the Marshals back on top 54-53.
Ryan Mathis scored to put the Eagles backup by one at 55-54 followed by a foul on Shannon who hit both at the line for a 57-54 Graves County lead. With three seconds to work with, a three attempt by Smith missed the mark at the final buzzer.
“We had the guys we wanted in the game in the final seconds”, Birdsong said. “Had the guys on the court we trust. When you’ve got a young team, you’ve got to let them learn to play through some stuff. We’ll learn from it.”
Birdsong said they’re disappointed, feeling like both times they have played Graves County this season they have let them off the hook, the first game decided in the Eagles favor in overtime. Birdsong added, they’re playing good basketball but just looked scared in the last seven to eight minutes and credited the Eagles with not giving up.
“Every possible way to turn the ball over and miss a shot, we did it tonight in that final 12 minutes”, Birdsong said. “This one’s going to sting for a while.”
The Marshals will play again Friday in the Kentucky Lake Showcase against Cobden, IL at 6:00.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| Graves | 7 | 13 | 28 | 57 |
| Marshall | 16 | 32 | 47 | 54 |
SCORING
Graves: Grant 16, Naranjo 14, Mathis 11 Young 11, Shannon 3, Jones 2
Marshall: Smith 13, Stokes 12, Reed 11, Powell 7, Riley 6, Nimmo 3, French 2
Graves: FG 21/47, 3 PT 5/13, FT 10/18, Reb 29, Fouls 18, Ast 6, TO 9
Marshall: FG 19/41, 3 PT 9/15, FT 7/12, Reb 29, Fouls 15, Ast 9, TO 14