Tuesday’s Senior Night game against Murray High was a must-win for the Marshals to keep their chances alive for the top seed in the always tough 4th District Tournament after losing the first of two games to Murray 56-39 on December 12.
The Marshals held the lead throughout most of the game and took their largest lead of 10 to start the fourth quarter. Murray wiped out the Marshals lead and outscored them 20-9 in the final quarter to win 50-46.
“We did some things uncharacteristic of our guys at times and the pressure got to us”, Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo said in his post-game comments. “If you don’t make your free throws and you don’t rebound and have a lot of live ball turnovers there in the fourth quarter, then you’re just not going to win games. We’ve got to be better than that.”
Alex Staples, who led the Marshals with 20 points, hit his first of two three’s in the first quarter to put them up 4-2. Murray’s only lead until deep in the fourth quarter came on a three from Drew May that put them up 13-12. A free throw tied it for the Marshals before Staples book ended the quarter with another three for a 16-13 lead.
The Marshals outscored Murray 11-9 in the second quarter led by six points from Staples. The half ended on a missed three attempt by Langhi but was grabbed by Orrin Phelps who put it back up and in for a 27-21 lead. A foul call on the Marshals at the buzzer sent May to the line who hit the second of two and it was 27-22 at halftime.
Extending their lead by two in the third quarter at 37-30, the Marshals got five points from Tommy Robertson and five more at the line where they went 5-of-6.
Langhi’s three pointer to open the fourth quarter gave them their largest lead of the night at 40-30. Things began to unravel a bit for the Marshals from there with turnovers and miss free throws. A three by May gave Murray their first lead since the first quarter at 43-42 with 3:04 remaining on the clock.
A key possession for the Marshals followed and resulted in a turnover. With 1:27 to go, Murray’s Lincoln English was sent to the line twice over the next 23 seconds and he hit all four free throws. Murray sealed the four-point win with two more at the line by Collin Wilson.
The Marshals finished 16-of-26 at the line, Murray was 16-of-22. Robertson had two of the Marshals four three pointers. Murray’s Jeremiah Jones hit three of their four threes in the game.
The Marshals will play their final regular season district game on Friday at Calloway County. The loss to Murray results in another Murray-Calloway County matchup in the first game of the 4th District Tournament.
Marshall 16 11 10 9 – 46
Calloway 13 9 8 20 – 50
Marshall (17-5): Alex Staples 20, Matthew Langhi 8, Ryan Stokes 5, Tommy Robertson 5, Logan Parker 4, Orrin Phelps 3, Kyzer Phillips 1
Murray (19-7): Zavion Carman 14, Drew May 10, Lincoln English 10, Jeremiah Jones 10, Collin Wilson 6
