A three by Bryce Flatt at the buzzer tied Inspire Prep Academy, FL, at 50 to send the game into overtime, a four-minute overtime period the Marshals dominated in large part at the free throw line where they hit 16 of 18. They out-scored Inspire Prep 16-5 in overtime to win 66-55.
It was their second win in The Grind Session’s Amusement Park Classic in Orlando. They beat Bishop Snyder, FL, 62-55 on Monday and suffered their only loss on Tuesday 53-49 to DME Academy, FL. Inspire Prep, like many of the teams, is a basketball-centered college preparatory school with players from all over the world.
Lining up against a couple of 6’11” players in Emmanuel Ndatuje and Saliou Sow and 6’7″ Pape Abdoulaye Raymond Dieng who led Inspire Prep with 20 points, the Marshals played without their leading scorer, Aaron Reed, who injured an ankle in Monday’s game.
Several players stepped up in Reed’s absence including Matt French who led the Marshals with 25 points and received the game’s Most Valuable Player award. Bryce Flatt started in place of Reed and scored 21 points including the huge 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime.
“A few of our guys had really good games”, Coach Terry Birdsong said in post-game comments to WCBL’s Jeff Waters. “We didn’t turn the ball over much. I thought Matt French played as good a game as I’ve seen Matt play, even when I coached against him. I thought he was a complete player today on both ends…defensive rebounding, offensive rebounding, made his free throws, scored when he had to, made a big three.”
Birdsong was also happy with the play of Flatt, saying, “It was his type of game with people gambling and trapping that he can read. They played a half court zone and Bryce did a good job of finding open gaps.”
Flatt was the first to put points on the board after neither team could find the net over two minutes into the game. A three from IPA’s Khalyl Simmons put them on top by one, a lead the Marshals took back on a basket by French and led 11-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The Marshals lead was seven points in the second quarter at 18-11. Three’s were exchanged by Simmons and Tyler Powell for a 21-14 Marshall County lead before a 10-0 run by IPA gave them a 24-21 lead. French tied the game at 24 with a three right before halftime and put the Marshals back up by two on two free throws to start the second half.
Powell and French combined for the next five points and a 31-26 lead, holding on to finish the third quarter up by one point at 35-34. IPA took their largest lead of the game in the fourth quarter at 43-37, a lead the Marshals cut to one on a three by Flatt and free throws from French who was nearly perfect from the line.
Forced to foul in the closing seconds, the Marshals case was helped by a couple of missed free throws by Dieng and a foul on French who converted a free throw to cut IPA’s lead to one with 30 seconds to go. A foul on Simmons with 14 seconds remaining put IPA back up by three before Flatt’s clutch three tied the game at 50 to give the Marshals new life.
It was all Marshall County in overtime, with 16 made free throws by Powell with seven, French hit four, Austin Riley three and two from Flatt.
After Christmas, they will hit the road again to play December 27-29 in the PBI Bank Memorial at Ohio County. They will play host Ohio County on the 27th at 7:45, Warren Central on the 28th at 6:00 and Holmes on the 29th at 6:00.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT/Final | |
| Marshall | 11 | 24 | 33 | 50 | 66 |
| Inspire Prep | 7 | 24 | 34 | 50 | 55 |
Marshall: French 25, Flatt 21, Powell 13, Smith 4, Riley 3
Inspire Prep: Dieng 20, Faulk 12, Simmons 12, Melvin 8, Ndatuje 3