Six of Calloway County’s 12 three-pointers Friday against the Marshals came in the first quarter – senior Jackson Chapman with four of them. It would be the start of a quarter the Lakers seemed to make everything they tossed up, going up by as many as 12 at one point on their way to the 75-74 district win.
“A team makes 12 threes…we played from behind and we weren’t ready to start, but we’ve got to give them credit…they made every shot to start the game”, Head Coach Terry Birdsong said.
Zion Harmon scored six straight on free throws, a basket off a Laker turnover then a steal and bucket to cut the Calloway first quarter lead down to six points at 26-20.
The Marshals trailed all of the second quarter, drawing within two points at 27-25 on a drive to the basket by Colby Schroader, scoring and drawing the foul for a three point play before nine unanswered points by the Lakers quickly stretched their lead to 11.
A second effort bucket by Riley Smith ended the Lakers run and the final six points of the half for the Marshals, again coming from Harmon to trail 38-33 at halftime.
Out of the half, the Marshals were within two points on a turnover picked up by Kaden Driver and the pass to Harmon for the basket. Matthew Ray, who led the Lakers with 23 points, dropped in a three and the lead was back to five. A Schroader three and Quinn Smith free throws drew the Marshals to within one point at 44-43 and they took their first lead of the game at 47-46. Three ties from there led to a 55-55 game heading into the final frame.
Darnell opened the fourth with the Lakers 10th three of the game and Ray followed with the 11th to take a quick six point lead. The Marshals trailed by eight at 68-60 but scored the next six to pull within two points with 2:38 left on the clock. Two baskets off of Laker turnovers by Driver and Harmon cut the Calloway lead to 71-70 and with 10 seconds remaining, Harmon put the Marshals up by one at 74-73.
Out of the Calloway time out, the ball landed in the hands of senior Evan Garrison who found the net for a one point Laker lead with 4.3 to go and a time out by the Marshals. Harmon’s final effort just inside half court misses at the buzzer.
“We take the lead up one, they called time out and we knew the ball was going to Garrison”, Birdsong said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of stopping the ball right there. He caught it and drove and twisted and turned and hit a little six foot jumper. He’s a good player. He’s gotten a lot better over the last two years.”
Birdsong said giving up 77, 75, 68 points is not typical of his teams and needs them to play on both ends adding, “We’re going to go back to the drawing board. Start holding guys accountable defensively. We’ve just got to get tougher.”
“You know we’ve got 10 guys at each practice and it’s the same 10 all week and it’s just hard…it’s not an excuse…Calloway deserved to win the game but we’ll be glad to get all our team back and our practices will be more competitive and more inspiring”, said Birdsong.
Another big test will come on Monday when they play their first home game against McCracken County (3-2). The Mustangs have wins over Graves County, Ballard Memorial and Paducah Tilghman.
Marshall 20 13 22 19 – 74
Calloway 26 12 17 20 – 75
Marshall: Harmon 33, Schroader 15, Q. Smith 7, Driver 6, Miller 4, R. Smith 4, Sedlock 3, Mills 2
Calloway: Ray 23, Chapman 15, Garrison 13, Z. Hudgin 9, Darnell 9, D. Hudgin 4, Franklin 2
