Panama City Beach, FL – The Marshals made their 8th appearance in the 12th Annual Marlin Christmas Classic at Arnold High School in Panama City Beach, Florida on Wednesday. Playing Pleasant Grove, AL in their first game on Wednesday, the Marshals fell to the Spartans 57-52.
The Marshals led 9-0 in the first quarter before Pleasant Grove got on the board halfway through the quarter, going on to lead 13-8 at the end of the first, a lead cut by three on a 3-pointer by Mike Rowser.
Dylan Walters scored to open the second quarter on a 15-8 Marshals lead but Pleasant Grove would out-score them 15-9 to cut the Marshall County lead to one at 24-23 at halftime. Walters led the Marshals with 12 points in the first half, Rowser led Pleasant Grove with 9 points.
Aaron Reed kicked off the second half for the Marshals with a one-handed slam and Walters scored the next four for a 30-25 lead. Reed scored the next four points to put the Marshals up 34-27 followed by three points from Bryce Flatt who was fouled scoring. The Spartans cut the lead to four at the end of the third quarter, 39-35.
The fourth quarter belonged to Pleasant Grove who put together a 10-0 run to lead 47-42, a lead cut to one on baskets by Reed and Tristen Prange. Rowser and Tyler Jones for Pleasant Grove put the Spartans back up 51-46 the Marshals cut again back to a 2-point lead on a three by Skyler Smith. From there, the Spartans out-scored the Marshals 6-2 to win 57-52.
In post-game comments, Head Coach Gus Gillespie said the 23 turnovers hurt the team saying, “I thought we were a little winded and didn’t look as sharp in the second half” and thought the Spartans man to man caused a little trouble for the Marshals.
The Marshals will head to the consolation bracket on Thursday and play host Arnold Marlins at 1:15. Arnold lost 57-50 to Madisonville North Hopkins on Wednesday. Catch the action on 99.1 FM WCBL.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Marshall County | 13 | 11 | 15 | 13 | 52 |
| Pleasant Grove | 8 | 15 | 10 | 22 | 57 |
