Article and photos by T Ray Henry
On Friday, January 30th, the Marshall High School boys basketball team traveled to Robinson High School to take on the Mount Carmel High School Golden Aces in the Little Illini Conference Tournament. The two squads were playing for third place in the conference tournament. Marshall came in with a season record of 8-11, and Mount Carmel came in with a record of 11-11.
In the first 90 seconds of the game, the two teams traded baskets, with Marshall’s Payton McGuire scoring. Liam Keim soon thereafter sank a free throw, and the Lions led 3-2. After Mount Carmel came up empty on their next possession, the Lions came up the floor and found Payton McGuire along the left wing, and McGuire rose up and drained a three-pointer to make the score 6-2 in the Lions’ favor with 4 ½ minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
The Golden Aces trimmed the Lions’ lead to 2 points (6-4) before Marshall had a nice passing sequence which began with Payton McGuire passing the ball over to the left elbow to Garrett Pugh, who turned and passed the ball to Tucker Osborn on the right-side baseline. Osborn dribbled the ball along the baseline towards the goal and scored to make the score 8-4. A free throw by Garrett Pugh at the 3:15 mark made it 9-4, then after the Lions got a stop on the defensive end, Payton McGuire was fouled while shooting a three-pointer on the left baseline. McGuire stepped up to the free throw line and sank all three free throws to give Marshall a 12-4 advantage with 2:52 left on the clock.
Mount Carmel got the score to 12-7 with the clock winding down, and as Marshall looked for the final shot of the quarter, Payton McGuire was fouled with 1.2 seconds on the clock. He sank both free throws for the Lions to double up the Golden Aces with the score 14-7, and that’s how the first quarter ended with Marshall leading by 7.
Garrett Pugh scored the first points of the second quarter when he drove to the goal and was fouled as he scored at the rim. He sank the free throw for the and-one, and now Marshall led 17-7. After two free throws for Mount Carmel made the score 17-9, Marshall’s Tucker Osborn drove all the way down the left side of the floor and into the lane where he put up a shot that fell through to make the score 19-9. On the play, Marshall’s Bryce Griguhn appeared to have injured his back when a Mount Carmel player forgot he was playing basketball instead of football, but without replay in high school basketball, no call was made for a Flagrant Two foul.
Another bucket from Garrett Pugh at the 5:50 mark put the Lions up by 12 with the score 21-9. The Lions defense rattled the Golden Aces into a turnover, then when the Big Red came back up the floor, Payton McGuire was fouled once again shooting a three-pointer on the left baseline. With 4:05 to go in the second quarter, McGuire sank all three free throws, and Marshall now led by 15 (24-9). Mount Carmel scored a few baskets down the stretch, and Marshall’s Payton McGuire splashed another three-pointer for the Lions as the teams went to the halftime break with Marshall leading 27-17.
With Marshall holding possession to begin the third quarter, Payton McGuire drove around a couple screens to the left baseline, where he stopped and popped in a 12-footer to put Marshall up by 12 (29-17). The Golden Aces connected on a three-pointer to get the deficit down into single digits (29-20) before Marshall’s Tucker Osborn drove along the right-side baseline when he dished the ball to Garrett Pugh, who went up and scored to make it 31-20 with 6 ½ to go in the third. A strong stop by the Lions followed, then Payton McGuire dribbled to the right baseline where he swished a 15-foot jumper to put the Lions ahead by 13 (33-20) with 5 ½ to go on the clock.
Mount Carmel scored a minute later, then Marshall’s Tucker Osborn knocked down a three from the top of the key at the 2:44 mark to put the Lions ahead 36-22. Down the stretch, Payton hit a free throw, and after three quarters of play, Marshall led 37-22. In the third quarter, Marshall held Mount Carmel to a total of 5 points to take a 15-point lead into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, Mount Carmel scored eight straight points to trim Marshall’s lead to 7 (37-30) before Garrett Pugh scored Marshall’s first points of the stanza to push the Lions’ lead back to nine points with the score 39-30 at the 5:25 mark. Mount Carmel then traded baskets for fouls the rest of the way with the exception of the final 45 seconds when Tommy Sheehy hit two field goals inside the lane. Other than the field goal by Pugh to open the quarter and the two field goals by Sheehy to close out the quarter, Marshall held a parade to the free throw line courtesy of Mount Carmel fouling on every possession. Free throws by Marshall’s Payton McGuire (5), Garrett Pugh (3), Tucker Osborn (3), and Tommy Sheehy (1) kept the Lions out in front, and when the final buzzer sounded with all five Mount Carmel players on the floor with four fouls each, Marshall came away with a 55-48 win over the Golden Aces to take home third place in the LIC Conference tournament. In the tournament, the Lions finished 2-1, finishing higher than their original seeding.
Payton McGuire led the Lions with 24 points, 14 of which came at the free throw line. McGuire was joined in double figures by Garrett Pugh, who finished with 15 points, and Tucker Osborn, who scored 10 during the second consecutive game in which he ended up in double figures. Tommy Sheehy finished the game with 5 points, and Liam Keim finished with 1 point.
During the second half, Marshall rode the entire half with five players (Payton McGuire, Garrett Pugh, Liam Keim, Tucker Osborn, and Tommy Sheehy) because center Bryce Griguhn was injured in the first half, and Zach Jones did not make the trip to Robinson. Reed Ramey played valuable minutes in the first half to preserve fouls, and he played very well along the perimeter.
Marshall (9-11) returns to action Wednesday, February 4th when the Lions host West Vigo (West Terre Haute, IN) for an interstate doubleheader inside McNary Gymnasium. The junior varsity game is scheduled to tip off at 5:00 PM Illinois time, with the varsity game to follow.
Tucker Osborn scored in double figures during back-to-back games in the LIC Tournament
Garrett Pugh (21) takes an acrobatic shot in the LIC's 3rd place game against Mount Carmel