DRAFFENVILLE – Marshall County trailed Murray by 14 points late in the first half and battled back to out-score the Tigers by 11 points in the second half to send the game into overtime, tied 57-57. Murray would go on to win 70-66 in overtime to clinch the 4th District and improve to 22-5 with three regular season games left on their schedule.
The Marshals trailed 4-3 early in the first quarter but found themselves quickly down 10-3 following two straight threes from Murray’s Ethan Clark and Murray led 15-8 at the end of the quarter.
James Boone, Clark and Tre Hornbuckle combined for the next seven Murray points to lead 22-12. Free throws by Dylan Walters cut the Tiger lead back to eight before a 10-4 Murray run gave them their largest lead of the game at 32-18 which the Marshals were able to cut to 11 (32-21), closing the half out with baskets from Dawson Jolley and Walters.
The Marshals opened the second half on a 6-2 run, four points from Aaron Reed and two from Jolley, to cut Murray’s lead to five. Murray followed that with a 7-0 run to stretch their lead back out 12 at 39-27. Reed scored the next five points to cut Murray’s lead back to seven and the Marshals would get to within six on a 3-pointer by D.J. Pigg but still trailed 46-39 at the end of the quarter.
The Marshals began to chip away at the Tigers lead in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter and cut Murray’s lead to 52-48 following free throws by Pigg and three points by Walters who scored and was fouled, making the free throw.
Walters pulled the Marshals to within two on a dunk off a steal and a free throw from Jolley made it a 52-51 game with 3:00 to go.
Still a one point Murray lead with 2:00 to go, free throws by Skyler Smith put the Marshals up 55-54. Boone scored and was fouled making the free throw followed by two from Walters and the score was 57-57. Murray’s plan to kill the final minute for the last shot backfired when Conner Riley intercepted a pass and the ball went to the other end with a tie up that left the ball still in the Marshals possession with 6.9 left on the clock. Pigg got a three attempt off that was no good and the game went into overtime.
Murray led by one in overtime period then went up by three following a basket made by Clark as he was falling to the floor. Zach Flener scored and was fouled to put the Tigers up 63-57 that was followed by a three from Pigg that cut the Murray lead back to three with 54 seconds to go.
Boone hit two free throws to put Murray back up by five then Jolley headed to the line and hit two to make it a 3-point game again with 41.4 seconds left. Murray’s Duane Curtis and Walters each at the free throw line hit one of two and the Murray lead was still three.
Ethan Clark was fouled by Pigg and missed both free throws with 27.6 left on the clock followed by a foul on Walters by Flener who fouled out. Walters made the first free throw to cut Murray’s lead to 66-64 with 19 seconds to go. Two more free throws by Boone and a basket by Pigg and it’s still a 2-point game with 10 seconds remaining.
Following Pigg’s basket and the ensuing in-bounds by Murray, the clock ran down to 1.1 before Jolley committed his 5th foul on Curtis, an issue that didn’t sit well with Head Coach Gus Gillespie and the referees. Curtis made both to give the Tigers a 70-66 win.
Walters led the Marshals with 18 points, was 8 of 11 at the free throw line and had 7 rebounds. Boone led Murray with 28 points and hit 14 of 16 at the free throw line.
SCORING
Murray: Boone 28, Clark 16, English 8, Hornbuckle 7, Curtis 4, Flener 4, Foster 3
Marshall: Walters 18, Reed 13, Pigg 12, Jolley 9, Smith 8, French 6
Murray: Field Goals 20/42, 3-pointers 4/11, Free Throws 26/37, Rebounds 23, Fouls 21, Turnovers 4
Marshall: Field Goals 19/39, 3-pointers 5/15, Free Throws 23/33, Rebounds 31, Fouls 28, Turnovers 8
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Final | |
| Murray | 15 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 70 |
| Marshall | 8 | 13 | 18 | 18 | 9 | 66 |
