During their two regular season match-ups, Marshall County and Graves County had two very different games. The Marshals winning big in the first game 75-39 but in a much different game at the Eagles Nest, the Marshals escaped with a 56-51 victory.
When it counts the most, the Marshals came through with a big 79-45 win over the Eagles in Wednesday’s first round of the regional tournament in Murray. They advance to Saturday’s semi-final against Paducah Tilghman, a 65-58 winner over Carlisle County.
Head Coach Terry Birdsong said of his team’s 34-point victory, “I think our kids sense that it’s one and done. We’ve been on the big stage a lot this year and been in a lot of tough games. Our schedule paid off for us. We’ve played on a college court three times already coming into tonight. I felt like our guys were ready. We’ve had really good practices and I think we’re playing our best basketball now.”
Zion Harmon led the Marshals with 34 points on 8-of-11 and was 14-of-16 from the stripe. Tyler Powell had 13 points and Tyler Stokes finished with 10 along with 14 rebounds. Nine Marshals scored and all 14 players saw minutes on the court at the CFSB Center.
“The main thing is making the right play, making the right pass and trusting your teammates”, Zion Harmon said. “We had two good practices up to this game and we’re going to keep it going.”
The Marshals led 15-10 at the end of the first quarter, led by seven points from Powell, a basket each by Stokes and Bryce Flatt and two of three free throws by Harmon after a foul shooting the three to end the quarter.
Harmon opened the second quarter with a three, matched at the other end with a three from Seth Thomas. Thomas followed it up with another field goal to pull the Eagles to within three points at 18-15. An 8-3 run by the Marshals put them up 26-18 prompting a Graves County time out. A basket out of the time out by Jameson Chalker cut the Marshals lead to six but they would get no closer the remainder of the game. Marshall County led 36-25 at halftime.
The Marshals out-scored the Eagles 30-8 in the third quarter with Harmon leading the way with 17 points. Jay Nimmo, Brady Miller and Quinn Smith all scored to give the Marshals a 30-point lead, before a final three by Harmon ended the quarter at 66-33.
Powell scored the first five Marshall County points of the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 71-36 and enforce the running clock. Chase Riley scored six of the Marshals final nine points on their way to a 34-point victory.
Saturday’s semi-final with Paducah Tilghman tips off at noon at the CFSB Center.
Graves County 10 25 33 45
Marshall County 15 36 66 79
Scoring
Graves County: Jameson Chalker 16, John Ben Brown 8, Seth Thomas 7, Aydan Flint 6, Mason Grant 4, Kade Babb 2, Conner Mills 2
Marshall County: Zion Harmon 34, Tyler Powell 13, Tyler Stokes 10, Chase Riley 6, Bryce Flatt 4, Kaden Driver 4, Brady Miller 4, Quinn Smith 2, Jay Nimmo 2
Graves County: FG 17/47, 3 Pt 6/21, FT 5/13, Reb 16, Ast 7, TO 9, PF 14
Marshall County: FG 25/48, 3 Pt 8/18, FT 21/26, Reb 32, Ast 16, TO 6, PF 13
