Patriots finish fourth in state

The Marshall Academy Patriots concluded their season with a fourth-place finish in the Class 3A State Tourna ment at Canton.

MA dropped a 59-44 decision to Oak Hill Academy in Saturday’s consolation contest, falling short of a berth in the MAIS Overall Tourna ment.

The Patriots, who played without injured senior starter Philip Parks, trailed 11-6 at the end of the first quarter, 25-18 at halftime and 35-30 after three periods.

They cut the deficit to four with 6:20 remaining, but that is as close as they would get.

Rusty Bolden was on fire from long-range in the game. He nailed five threes and finished with 16 points. Jeremiah Jones added 11 points. Both of them were selected to the allstate tournament team.

MA finished its season with a 22-12 record.

Coach Jeremy Ervin loses four seniors – Parks, Jones, Sam Greer and Anthony Mayfield.

Semi-Finals

The Patriots struggled from the start versus the top-ranked 3A team in the state and lost 54- 30 to Columbia Academy in state semi-finals Friday night.

Marshall mustered just four points in the first quarter, three of those coming on Greer’s long-range shot, and added just eight in the second quarter and five in the third.

The Cougars had leads of 13-4 after one, 26-12 at halftime and 42-17 after three.

In the fourth, the Patriots showed some grit. After falling behind by 28, Rod’Drickous Moore drilled three consecutive threes to slice the deficit to 19 points, 45-26.

But that was as close as MA would get, and Columbia went on to win by 24 and advance to the title contest Saturday versus Carroll Academy.

Jones and Moore finished with nine points each for Marshall.

Quarter-finals

In their state tournament opener Tuesday, Feb. 18, in Canton, the Patriots knocked off Riverfield Academy (La.) 61-51.

Parks was the main man for MA. He dropped in 26 points, with 16 of those coming in the first half.

Bolden was also in double digits with 15, and Greer added nine.

Marshall was up 28-23 at the half, and Riverfield pulled to within 37-34 to start the final quarter.

Bolden hit a big three in the fourth, and eight of Greer’s points came in the final eight minutes.

The Pats were also seven of 11 from the free-throw stripe in the fourth.