A back and forth, fast paced game throughout the first three quarters was setting up what looked like a down to the wire finish, but Paducah Tilghman had other things in mind, pulling away from the Marshals to win 57-43.
The Blue Tornados out-scored the Marshals 22-9 in the final eight minutes, in part by the play of senior Jequan Warren who scored 12 of his team-leading 22 points.
The Marshals held an 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, led by Kole Sedlock with five points. Tilghman grabbed the lead back to open the second on a basket by Mian Shaw and it swung back to the Marshals on a bucket by Hunter Wallace.
Trailing 19-16, the Marshals finished out the half on a 6-0 run to lead 22-19 at halftime.
Tilghman cut the Marshals lead down to one, Wall put them back up by three and the back-and-forth battle continued in the third quarter. Warren tied it, Wade Moore put the Marshals up by two and the lead went back to Tilghman on a 3-pointer by Jayvion Powell.
Quinn Smith and Shaw exchanged baskets and they were knotted up at 30 with two minutes left in the quarter. Hunter Wallace dropped in the Marshals final four points and the Blue Tornados lead was 35-34 heading into the fourth.
Warren put Tilghman up by three followed by an ‘and-1’ opportunity for Powell to get the Blue Tornado homecoming crowd excited and their lead would stretch to nine at 47-38. Wallace dropped in a timely 3-pointer with 3:07 left but it was answered with a lay-in by Shaw to keep the lead at eight.
Wallace, who led the Marshals with 13 points, cut the Tilghman lead to six at 49-43 with 1:34 left on the clock but it was all Tilghman blue from there, scoring the final eight points for the 14-point win.
Next week, the Marshals will host Caldwell County on Tuesday and Hopkins County on Thursday. They wrap up the week Friday at Christian Fellowship.
Marshall 11 11 12 9 – 43
Tilghman 10 9 16 22 – 57
Marshall (14-8): Wallace 13, Smith 12, Moore 7, Sedlock 7, Wall 4
Tilghman (13-7): Warren 22, Powell 11, Shaw 11, Fitzgerald 6, Arthur 5, Bradley 2
