It’s been over 10 days since the Marshals last game due to COVID-19 quarantine protocols and with just a couple days of practice, the Marshals were back on the court against Graves County. The shots were there but not falling for the Marshals who trailed by as many as 17 points in the third quarter before falling to the Eagles 52-38.
“I’m very proud of our kids”, Coach Terry Birdsong said. “I had fun coaching them tonight…they competed…I know we fell short. The bottom line is we got to get tougher, we got to finish better around the rim. But we made a game of it.”
Ten points from Graves County’s John Ben Brown along with a couple of 3-pointers by Aydan Flint led the Eagles in their 18-7 first quarter lead. The Marshals scoring came from Kole Sedlock with three points and two each by Kaden Driver and Brady Miller.
Mason Grant hit two from beyond the arc early in the second quarter to put the Eagles on top 24-8 while the Marshals continued to struggle with their shots. A 3-pointer by Lucas Pigg tied the Eagles largest lead of 16 points in the half and they led 27-15 at halftime.
Graves County took their largest lead of the game at 34-17 in the third quarter and led by 14 heading into the fourth. It was a nice quarter for Quinn Smith who scored 10 of his team-leading 12 points in the game while Miller scored the remaining three of their 13 points in the third.
Cole Mills scored all six of his points to start the fourth quarter, pulling the Marshals to within 10 at 44-34, but it was back out to a 12 point Eagles lead on a basket by Brown. A bucket by Driver made it a 10 point game again and with 1:36 remaining they were still within 10 at 48-38 but wouldn’t find the net again in the 14 point loss.
Birdsong said his guys are good shooters but lack confidence on the offensive end. The Marshals were also without Zion Harmon who is dealing with an on-going heal injury and Riley Smith due to illness.
“I thought our guys hustled their butts off tonight”, Birdsong said. “I thought they represented our school well. I was proud to coach them. You can’t win them all. Getting beat and losing are two different things. I thought tonight we got beat.”
The Marshals will meet another tough 1st Region opponent today (Jan. 30) when they take on Paducah Tilghman in Paducah at 7:30.
Graves County 18 9 15 10 – 52
Marshall County 7 8 13 10 – 38
Graves County: Brown 20, Grant 10, Pigg 9, Flint 6, Thompson 3, Isaiah 2, Hayden 2
Marshall County: Smith 12, Mills 6, Miller 5, Driver 5, Sedlock 5, Schroader 5
