Article and photos by T Ray Henry
On Monday,, February 23rd, the Marshall High School basketball team made the journey to Clinton High School to take on the Maroons in the first round of the IHSA Class 2A tournament. Marshall ended the regular season with a record of 12-15, while Clinton ended their with a record of 23-8.
Maroons fans in attendance came to the gym knowing the Lions were shorthanded on the floor without their scoring leader, and they expected nothing short of a boatrace. However, nobody measured the heart of these Lions as they gave Clinton all they could handle and more in a 58-45 loss that was closer than the final score would indicate. Clinton, which pressed on defense throughout the game until the final buzzer, scored four meaningless buckets in the final minute of play when the outcome was already determined.
The Lions were intent from the tipoff to get the ball inside to Garrett Pugh and Bryce Griguhn because Clinton had no one on their roster who could defend them inside the lane. In the first quarter alone, which ended with the home team leading 18-17, Pugh had 11 points for Marshall, while Griguhn has the other 6. The first quarter was back and forth, and as the Lions took their first lead of the game at 11-10 with 3:49 to go on the clock, those in attendance that made the two-hour trip from Clark County had a feeling this had the makings of an upset.
At the start of the second quarter, Marshall struggled getting the ball up the floor when Clinton pressed with a 1-2-2 trap. Instead of getting the ball to the middle of the floor and attacking the defense, the Lions found themselves on the sidelines, and turnovers led to easy transition points as Clinton built a six-point lead midway through the quarter. Marshall’s Garrett Pugh scored inside to get the Lions within 4 at 26-22, then freshman Beady Landrus hit a three-pointer from the left baseline to get Marshall within one at 26-25 with 1:55 to go until halftime. With 1:07 to go until the break, Tucker Osborn was fouled from behind as he was going in on a breakaway, and after he sank a free throw, the game was tied up at 26. Without any further scoring down the stretch by either team, the game went to halftime all tied up at 26 apiece.
Marshall’s Garrett Pugh scored the first bucket of the second half when he took a pass down low from Liam Keim on the right wing and scored to put the Lions ahead 28-26. Clinton tied it back up, then the teams went back and forth the rest of the quarter. Marshall’s largest lead in the stanza was 3 points, and Clinton never led in the quarter until inside the final minute with the Maroons scored, and the teams went to the final eight minutes of play with Clinton leading by two 37-35.
In the fourth quarter, Marshall went on a 4 minute 20 second scoring drought as Clinton built a 10-point lead at 45-35 before Garrett Pugh scored on a three-point play inside to get the Lions within 7 to make the score 45-38 with 3:40 to go in the game. A Liam Keim steal and breakaway score later got the Lions within 5 points, but that’s as close as the Lions would get as their shots would not fall down the stretch. As the clock winded down, the only buckets by the Lions were a Tommy Sheehy inside bucket and a Garrett Pugh three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to make the final score 58-45.
Garrett Pugh had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds in his final high school game to lead the Lions in the game. Bryce Griguhn finished with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Brady Landrus had 6 points, while Tucker Osborn (5 rebounds) and Tommy Sheehy each had 4 points. Liam Keim , who had a team-leading 7 assists on the night, finished with 2 points.
Garrett Pugh (21) finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds while being double teamed by Clinton
Tucker Osborn (2) stabilized the backcourt in the game versus Clinton
Liam Keim (3) had a big steal and score to go along with 7 assists for Marshall against Clinton
Bryce Griguhn (33) was a force inside for Marshall against Clinton, finishing with 8 points
