DRAFFENVILLE – A flurry of points from Houston Harvey, Lucas Nichols, Dylan Walters and Aaron Reed put the Marshals up early 10-0 against Ballard Memorial to which Marshals Head Coach Gus Gillespie said was “a good start and made them turn over the basketball”.
The first quarter ended the way it started with Harvey dropping in a free throw to give the Marshals a 23-11 lead. Matthew French scored the first four points of the second quarter and ended the half hitting a basket at the buzzer to put the Marshals up by 23 points, 42-19.
Skyler Smith scored seconds into the second half with two more points added by Walters for a 29 point Marshall lead. Ballard’s Erick Marinelli hit the Bombers only three of the game in the third quarter to cut into the Marshals lead but they would stretch it back out to 31 points on baskets by Walters and a three from Harvey to lead 59-28.
Bryce Flatt hit his second three-pointer of the game to open the fourth quarter for the Marshals as they rolled to a 71-36 win in their season opener. A big night for Walters who hit 10 of 12 for 23 points and led in rebounding with 6. Ross Jones led Ballard with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Nine different players scored for the Marshals with 19 of their points coming off the bench.
“I’m very pleased overall, they did one thing we wanted and that was foot on the accelerator and play as hard as you can play”, Gillespie said.
The Marshals will play on Thursday in the Hoopfest at 5:30 against Massac County, IL.
SCORING
Massac: Jones 11, Williams 6, Parsons 5, Bledsoe 4, Chandler 2 Sullivan 2, Gudgell 2, Grogan 1
Marshall: Walters 23, Harvey 9, French 8, Reed 8, Nichols 6, Smith 6, Prange 2, Smothers 2, Powell 1
Massac: Field Goals 6/20, 3-pointers 1/13, Free Throws 15/24, Total Rebounds 27, Fouls 15, Assists 2, Turnovers 19
Marshall: Field Goals 27/53, 3-pointers 4/16, Free Throws 13/18, Total Rebounds 30, Fouls 22, Assists 8, Turnovers 10, Steals 13
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Massac | 11 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 36 |
| Marshall | 23 | 19 | 17 | 12 | 71 |
