Murray’s Taylor Gymnasium was busting at the seams when Marshall County and Calloway County tipped off in the 4th District semi-final game on Tuesday. The two teams split their regular season games and with a district title and regional tournament berth on the line, this one went down to the wire with the Marshals claiming the 63-59 win.
It’s the second straight year the Marshals have knocked out a talented Calloway County team in the district semi-final, robbing one of the top teams in the region a chance to play in the regional tournament.
“We certainly made it a lot harder than we had to down the stretch”, Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo said in post-game comments to WCBL’s Jeff Waters. “We knew it was going to be a fight, it always is. Calloway is such a talented group, but we told them it was going to be a fight and they knew that. I thought down the stretch we were mentally tough and we were the tougher team.”
Five different players contributed to the Marshals first quarter scoring and a 15-11 lead. Matthew Langhi scored to open the second quarter on six-point lead but just past the midway point of the quarter, Calloway County’s Conner Lockhart tied the game up at 20 on a three pointer.
Langhi, Ryan Stokes and Alex Staples combined for the next seven Marshall County points to take a 27-24 lead into halftime.
A quick goal by Logan Parker put the Marshals up by five to open the half but a seven-point lead late in the quarter was wiped out by the Lakers on three’s from Stephen Lane and Jonah Butler to trim the lead down to one at 38-37.
Calloway County continued their run into the fourth quarter with a quick five points that gave them their first lead since the 2-0 start.
Over the next four minutes, an inspired Marshall County team outscored Calloway County 11-1 to take a 49-43 lead. Langhi and Tommy Robertson taking control and scoring all 11 points. The run ended on the first of a trio of threes from Conner Lockhart.
A hard foul on Langhi by Lockhart sent him to the line to give the Marshals a 53-46 lead with 2:09 remaining. After two missed free throws by Lockart, Robertson hit four straight to put the Marshals up 58-50 with 58.1 left on the clock but the game was far from over.
Calloway County cut it to two points twice over the next 40 seconds. Parker and Staples each went to the line and were perfect to put the Marshals up by six with 3.9 seconds on the clock. The defense allowed a clear path to the goal for Eli Finley who finished off the game with a slam for the Lakers.
Coach Donohoo credited Parker and Orrin Phelps with their senior leadership on the court.
“Logan and Orrin…Logan was on the court a lot more than Orrin tonight but they were constantly talking and being vocal”, Donohoo said. “Never had a doubt that we were still in the game and combat their runs and go on a run. When you have good senior leadership like that it just goes such a long way.”
Langhi led all scorers with 25 points and was a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line. Twelve of those points a key to their fourth quarter success.
“When he has an aggressive mindset, not just about scoring the ball, but rebounding and locked in on defense, he’s just a hard matchup for everybody offensively”, Donohoo said of Langhi. “He made some big plays down the stretch, especially for a freshman.”
The Marshals will tipoff against Murray in the 4th District title game on Thursday at 6:00 at Murray High.
Marshall 15 12 11 25 – 63
Calloway 11 13 13 22 – 59
Marshall (21-7): Matthew Langhi 25, Tommy Robertson 14, Alex Staples 10, Logan Parker 7, Ryan Stokes 4, Kyzer Phillips 3
Calloway (17-11): Eli Finley 22, Jonah Butler 21, Conner Lockhart 8, Cole Lockhart 3, Stephen Lane 3, Kolt Bazzell 2
