Marshals will meet Murray in district championship

The Marshals celebrate their win and opportunity to play for the district title Thursday against Murray. Both the Marshals and Murray will advance to the regional tournament.

Like the Lady Marshals, the Marshals faced a must-win game against the Lakers to prolong their season. Behind Tyler Powell’s 21 points and 19 from Tyler Stokes, the Marshals beat Calloway County 56-50, but the Lakers didn’t go down easy. Tied 42-42 in the fourth quarter with 2:14 left in the game, a huge 3-pointer from Powell gave the Marshals a three point lead and they went on to out-score the Lakers 14-8 to close out the win.

Tyler Powell led the Marshals with 21 points in their 4th District semi-final win over Calloway County.

Kade Mize, who scored 27 points in the game, opened the scoring for the Lakers for the early 2-0 lead. Stokes dropped in a three to put the Marshals on the board, then Mize and Chandler Steele combined to give the Lakers a 6-3 lead. Three points from Powell on a basket while drawing the foul, tied the game at 6-6 and the Marshals finished out the quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 13-8.

Nearly three minutes elapsed in the second quarter before either team scored, the first points coming for the Marshals on a basket by Austin Riley and they would go on to lead by nine points. The lead was cut to four before two straight baskets by Stokes stretched it back out to eight at 23-15 with one final first half basket by Mize to cut the Marshals halftime lead to six points.

Both teams put up 11 points in the third quarter, the Marshals leading by as many as 11 at one point before the Lakers cut it back to four following a four-point play by Cade Butler who was fouled on a made three. Powell was fouled shooting and made both at the line in the closing seconds of the quarter to keep the Marshals up by six.

Butler drew the Lakers to within three points after sinking a 3-pointer, stretched back out to seven following baskets by Powell and Bryce Flatt. Trailing 42-37, Mize buried a three to pull the Lakers to within two points and they tied it at 42-42 on free throws from Steele. Powell’s three from the corner gave the Marshals their final lead but the Lakers kept battling, pulling to within four at 54-50 on a three by Steele before the final shot of the game was dropped in by a wide-open Flatt under the basket.

Flatt and company did a much better job on Butler, holding  the junior to eight points this time around. Butler scored 15 in the their last meeting when the Marshals won by the same final score of 56-50. The Marshals were 22 for 27 in free throws which was big in the closing minute when they made five trips to the line.

The Marshals will meet Murray in Thursday’s District Championship following the Lady Marshals and Lady Tigers game at 6:00. The Lakers end their season with an 11-18 record.

  1   2   3  Final
Marshall  13  23  34   56
Calloway   8  17  28   50

Marshall: Powell 21, Stokes 19, Flatt 11, A. Riley 3, C. Riley 2
Calloway: Mize 27, Steele 10, Butler 8, Franklin 3, Rogers 2
Marshall: TFG 16/35, 3PT 2/10, FT 22/27, REB 26
Calloway: TFG 17/42, 3PT 4/11, FT 12/18, REB 24

Tyler Stokes, covered up defensively by Chandler Steele (31) and Ki Franklin (14), scored 19 points for the Marshals in Tuesday’s 56-50 win.