Marshall County faced off against Graves County on Wednesday at the CFSB Center in their opening round game of the Mercy Health Region 1 Tournament. With a 47-37 victory, the Marshals secured their spot in the semifinals on Saturday.
They will take on Paducah Tilghman in the first semifinal at 1:00. Paducah Tilghman beat Fulton County 95-61 to advance. The Marshals swept both regular season games over the Blue Tornado this season in two hard-fought battles.
Defense was the key to Marshall County’s win, as they held the Eagles to just 34% shooting from the field and their lowest point total of the season while also outrebounding them 21-15.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am that showed up tonight”, Head Coach Sawyer Donohoo said in post-game comments to WCBL’s Jeff Waters on the team’s defensive effort and rebounding. “Our guys came to fight tonight and that’s what we have to do the next game.”
Matthew Langhi led the Marshals with 17 points, surpassing the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He was named Player of the Game for his performance.
Langhi opened the scoring at the free-throw line, and the Marshals took an early 4-0 lead in a low-scoring first quarter. Graves County didn’t get on the board until midway through the period when Ty Cavette hit a bucket.
Marshall County held a 10-5 lead after one quarter, but the Eagles quickly cut it to two on a three-point play by Braden Waller to start the second. Baskets from Ryan Stokes and back-to-back scores from Tommy Robertson pushed the Marshals’ lead to 16-8, and they went into halftime up 21-14.
Robertson hit the Marshals’ first three-pointer of the game in the third quarter, extending the lead to 26-18. Langhi’s eight-point effort in the period helped them stretch their advantage to 34-22 heading into the final frame.
The fourth quarter started with a three-pointer from Kyzer Phillips, and the Marshals built their largest lead of the night at 46-29. Graves County refused to go down without a fight, responding with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to single digits with 51.6 seconds left. The Marshals held on to close out the 10-point victory.
Marshall County 10 21 34 47
Graves County 5 14 22 37
Marshall County (28-2): Matthew Langhi 17, Tommy Robertson 12, Kyzer Phillips 9, Ryan Stokes 4, Kaden Mohler 4, Carson Lovett 1
Marshall County: FG 15/33, 3PT 3/12 (Robertson, Phillips, Langhi), FT 14/20 (Langhi 8/10), REB 21, AST 7
Graves County (19-10): Braden Waller 14, Ty Cavette 8, Raygon Mathis 6, Bodie Veucasovic 5, Darrell Hughes 3, Kase Tubbs 1
Graves County: FG 11/32, 3PT 3/9 (Waller, Hughes, Veucasovic), FT 12/18, REB 15, AST 6
