LEWISBURG – The Marshall County Tigers battled back from deficits in the first two quarters and pulled within two points of the Lawrence County Wildcats midway through the third quarter, but the Tigers could not get closer as the Wildcats extended their lead and finished with a 62-46 win in a District 8-AAA basketball game Friday night.
Lawrence County (19-3, 3-1) jumped out to an 11-6 lead in the first quarter before consecutive treys by Jamal Gentry gave Marshall County (12-9, 3-1) its only lead at 12-11 with 55 seconds remaining.
A late field goal gave the Wildcats a 13-12 lead heading to the second quarter.
Similarly to the opening quarter, the Wildcats took a lead in the second before the Tigers fought back. 
Lawrence County led 27-18 with 3:05 left before the Tigers used a three-pointer by Aja Jones and back-to-back treys by Marcus O'Neal and Gentry to tie the game at 29-29 with 1:15 remaining. 
The Wildcats scored the final five points to take a 34-29 lead into halftime.
Lawrence County took a 41-31 lead with 5:22 left in the third quarter before the Tigers returned to script. 
Once again, it was Gentry providing the theatrics with two straight treys as Marshall County used an 8-0 run to get within two at 41-39 with 4:09 left.
The Wildcats responded with seven consecutive points and took a 50-41 lead to the fourth quarter.
"He (Gentry) shot the ball well," Coach Lavon King of the Tigers said.
"They did a good of crashing the offensive boards," King added.  "That's some of the things we need to do more of just to try to get second and third-chance shots."
The well ran dry in the final quarter as the Tigers could only manage five points while the Wildcats increase their advantage. 
Lawrence County scored the first six points to take a 56-41 advantage en route to the district win.        
Alex Bedford scored 21 points to lead three Wildcats in double figures. 
T.J. Gobble added 14 points while Jakabri Stevenson netted 11.
Gentry connected on five treys and led the Tigers with 17 points while Jones added 11.
The Wildcats were 10-of-14 at the charity stripe while Marshall County missed its only free throw attempt. 
"They did a good job of making some big shots down the stretch and we struggled as far as scoring," King said. "We couldn't find the basket consistently enough to stay with them."
"Even when we thought we were putting pressure on them, we'd have to slide over to help and they would kick it out," King added.
"It's good that we saw this now so hopefully it won't happen later on in the season."
        
Lawrence Co.  13  21  16  12 — 62
Marshall Co.    12  17  12   5 — 46
 
Lawrence Co.:Alek Bedford 21, T. J. Gobble 14, Jakabri Stevenson 11, Blake Long 8, Luke Mattox 6, Logan Boswell 2, Carter Hughes, Drayke Osborn.
Marshall Co.: Jamal Gentry 17, Aja Jones 11, Marcus O'Neal 9, Jayden Randolph 4, Jayce Harney 3, Jabrae Howard 2, Kintarius Morris, Xavier Mosley, Markel Harris.
3-Point goals: Lawrence Co. (4): Bedford 2, Stevenson, Mattox; Marshall Co. (8): Gentry 5, Jones, O'Neal, Harney.
Halftime score: Lawrence Co. 34, Marshall Co. 29.