McCracken County sits atop the 1st Region standings year in and year out and is a tough team to beat, especially on their home court. A great rivalry between the Marshals and Mustangs that has seen most games go down to the wire – including their first meeting this season on Jan. 18 at Reed Conder Gymnasium that went into overtime.
In Sunday’s rescheduled matinee, McCracken County came out on top 66-61 to win their 10th straight and improve to 13-3. The win was their 11th straight over Marshall County.
The Marshals, playing better and better each time out, despite schedule gaps due to COVID cancellations, stunned the Mustangs with a 14-0 start to the game. Colby Schroader had the hot hands hitting three of the four game-opening 3-pointers that led to the 14-0 lead before the Mustangs got on the board on a field goal by Ian McCune.
McCune’s basket was the start of a 15-0 run by the Mustangs that wiped out the Marshals lead to go up 15-14. Brady Miller scored and drew the foul to put the Marshals back up 17-15 and the first quarter ended 17-17 on a bucket by McCracken’s Jack McCune.
McCracken County out-scored the Marshals by four in the second quarter that began with two ties at 20 and 22 points before the Mustangs took a 27-22 lead on a three point play by Jack McCune and free throws from Ian McCune.
Trailing 32-28, a basket by Kole Sedlock cut the Mustangs lead to two points and he went on to score the Marshals final basket of the half to trail 36-32 at halftime.
Noah Dumas opened the second half with a field goal that put the Mustangs up by six but it was followed by a 6-0 run by the Marshals – a 3-pointer by Brady Miller, free throw from Cole Mills and basket by Quinn Smith – that tied the game at 38-38. McCracken out-scored the Marshals 19-11 from there to lead by eight at 57-49.
Riley Smith dropped in two free throws for the Marshals to cut the Mustangs lead down to six to open the fourth quarter and trailing 60-53, he scored and drew the foul – completing the three point play to pull the Marshals to within three points at 60-57.
Dumas scored the next five points for the Mustangs to stretch their lead to 65-57. Miller and Quinn Smith field goals cut the lead down to four before a final free throw from Cason Tilford finished off the 66-61 win for McCracken County.
McCracken got a second half boost from 6’6″ junior Ian Hart who led the Mustangs with 22 points. The Marshals had four in double figures led by Driver and Schroader with 12 a piece, Quinn Smith with 11 and Miller scored 10.
Head Coach Terry Birdsong said in post-game comments, he was proud of how hard they played and proud of their effort.
The JV Marshals came from 12 points down in the fourth quarter to beat McCracken County 52-49 on a game winning 3-pointer from Trey Wall.
Weather permitting, the Marshals are scheduled to play at Graves County on Tuesday.
Marshall 17 15 17 12 – 61
McCracken 17 19 21 9 – 66
Marshall: Driver 12, Schroader 12, Q. Smith 11, Miller 10, R. Smith 7, Sedlock 6, Mills 3
McCracken: Hart 22, Dumas 19, I. McCune 13, J. McCune 5, Brower 4, Blackwell 2, Tilford 1
