Marshall County beat Murray in overtime last season to win the 4th District Tournament, this time it was Murray getting the win over the Marshals, leading from the opening tip to win the title 59-46.
“They got off to a great start and we didn’t…but we hung in there, we had a couple of chances there at the end of the first half to get it down to single digits and have a bit of momentum, but we just couldn’t do it”, Head Coach Terry Birdsong said. “You’ve got to give them credit, we’ve had three chances to beat them and haven’t yet.”
Murray’s 7-0 start began with a three from Will Lovins, the first of four in the first quarter for the Tigers. Three’s from Grant Whitaker and Hunter Utley put the Tigers up by 10 points in the quarter, the Marshals able to close it to four on two points from Tyler Powell and a free throw and basket by Bryce Flatt before Murray’s final three from Whitaker gave them an 18-11 lead heading into the second quarter.
Up by eight points at 24-15, Murray picked up a free throw from RaVichael Strickland and another three from Utley to go up by 12 points. A free throw from Tyler Stokes cut it to 11 at halftime.
Jay Nimmo headed to the bench at the start of the second half with his third foul of the game while Murray took a 29-16 lead. The Marshals cut it back to 10 points but were deflated once again on another Utley 3-pointer. Utley dropped in another three followed by a two to put the Tigers up by 16 points before the Marshals found some life on two straight three’s from Nimmo and he was fouled on both for an 8-point swing, trailing 43-35.
Dawson Smothers was fouled and made both at the line to start the fourth quarter down by six points. Smothers took a charge followed by a foul against Powell to move to within five points of Murray. The Tigers then went on a 7-1 run to stretch the lead back to 11 points, cut back to single digits on a three by Nimmo with 2:33 left in the game.
Powell came up with a turnover and converted it into points to draw the Marshals to within six points but the Tigers finished out the game on a 9-2 run for the 13-point win.
“They execute well and they’ve got enough ball handlers and sometimes with our lack of foot speed, we can’t force tempo like we’d like to sometimes”, Birdsong said. “They play well together as a team…they’re experienced with basically their whole team back.”
The Marshals will know who their opening round opponent will be in the regional tournament following Saturday’s 9:00 a.m. draw. The boy’s kick off the tournament this year, playing first round games on Monday and Tuesday at the CFSB Center in Murray.
In other Region 1 boy’s action Thursday, Mayfield defeated Graves County 79-78 in triple overtime in the 3nd District Championship. Carlisle County defeated Fulton County 60-58 for the 1st District title and McCracken County beat Tilghman 43-35 to win the 2nd District Championship.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | Final | |
| Marshall | 11 | 16 | 34 | 46 |
| Murray | 18 | 27 | 43 | 59 |
Marshall: Powell 12, Nimmo 11, Flatt 10, Stokes 6, A. Riley 3, Smothers 2, Driver 2
Murray: Utley 18, Whitaker 14, Strickland 14, Lovins 6, Waldrop 4, Mohler 3
Marshall: TFG 12/42, 3PT 4/20, FT 18/22, REB 18
Murray: TFG 18/32, 3PT 8/14, FT 15/24, REB 26
