DRAFFENVILLE – In 2015 the Marshals lost at home to Muhlenberg County 55-50 and last year lost at Muhlenberg County 58-55. In similar style to the previous two meetings, the Marshals were able to turn the tables and get the win over the Mustangs 54-50 Tuesday on their home court.
We came out early, took control of the game”, Coach Gus Gillespie said. “Felt pretty good at halftime, like we played good basketball offensively and defensively. But Muhlenberg’s a scary team with so many guys that can really shoot it, get it off quick and do a good job of passing so you never felt comfortable with the lead.”
The Marshals led from start to finish, leading 8-0 early on points from Houston Harvey and 3-pointers by Lucas Nichols and Matt French, which would be the start of six threes in the first quarter, three of the Marshals four coming from French and two for Muhlenberg County from Noah McElwain and Austin Sailing. The Marshals led 20-14 at the end of the first quarter.
Sailing hit his second of five 3-pointers in the game for the Mustangs to start the second quarter, cutting the Marshals lead to three. After a couple of Marshall turnovers, French dropped in four free throws for a 24-17 lead. The half ended with a three from Skylar Smith that gave the Marshals a 10 point lead, cut again to seven on a three by McElwain. The Marshals let the clock run down for the final shot, a three by Smith that was no good, but a tie up on the rebound gave the ball to the Marshals and the inbound pass under the basket to Aaron Reed at the buzzer gave them a 31-22 halftime lead.
Sailing began the third quarter just like the second with a 3-pointer for the Mustangs to cut their deficit to six points and they would get as close as five but the Marshals held them off to lead by six going into the fourth quarter.
Leading 53-46 Muhlenberg cut it to five with 1:34 left in the game and a turnover by the Marshals led to a basket by McElwain which cut the lead to three. With 39.8 second to go, the Marshals turned the ball over but Harvey drew a timely charge at the other end with 20.2 left to give the ball back to the Marshals. A foul on Lucas Nichols sent him to the line but both free throws missed the mark.
Dylan Walters came up with a steal with 5.8 left on the clock, was fouled and made one at the free throw line to seal the win for the Marshals.
French led in scoring with 15 points, hit 3 of 3 from three point range and had 6 rebounds. Sailing led Muhlenberg with 10 points, hitting 5 of 10 from three point range. Both teams turned the ball over 13 times with the Marshals making the most of Muhlenberg’s scoring 17 points.
SCORING
Muhlenberg: Sailing 19, Vanhook 10, McElwain 8, Walker 4, Nofsinger 4, Vincent 4, Mitchell 1
Marshall: French 15, Reed 14, Nichols 9, Walters 9, Harvey 4, Smith 3
Muhlenberg: Field Goals 19/43, 3-pointers 8/19, Free Throws 4/6, Rebounds 24, Fouls 17, Assists 11, Turnovers 13
Marshall: Field Goals 20/37, 3-pointers 5/11, Free Throws 9/15, Rebounds 21, Fouls 11, Assists 9, Turnovers 13
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | |
| Muhlenberg | 14 | 8 | 13 | 15 | 50 |
| Marshall | 20 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 54 |