LEWISBURG — Jamahl Gentry has been the go-to guy for point production for Marshall County as of late.
While Cornersville limited Gentry to just four points in Thursday night’s county rivalry matchup, the Tigers saw others fill the void on the offensive end of the floor as Marshall County finished its sweep of Cornersville with a 53-32 win.
It was a slow start for both squads out of the gate as Cornersville was able to limit the Tigers to just 10 points in the opening frame.
“They have a good team. They’re quick and fast. We had a really good first quarter, but after that, things started not going our way at times,” Bulldog coach Dakota Brown said.
After a slow start, Marshall County’s Jayden Hart took control of the game in the second quarter and attacked the paint, going for nine of his game-high 22 points.
“He (Hart) does a remarkable job as far as running the floor. As long as he continues playing like that, he’s going to be a special player,” Tiger coach Lavon King said.
While Gentry was limited on the offensive end of the court, the Tiger point guard continued to wreak havoc on the Bulldogs from a defensive standpoint.
“We talked about him (Gentry) quite a bit, more so of him on defense, but we did a good job on him,” Brown said.
“He’s always going to bring it as far as defense. Sometimes it’s good for other guys to step up and make big plays and big shots. As far as the scoring, he doesn’t have to be the guy all the time. It was good that other guys stepped up and took his point production,” King said.
In addition to Hart taking control in the second period, sophomore Aja Jones also cracked into double figures and helped fill the point total for the Tigers.
“That’s the good thing about playing a lot of kids, we can go in swarms, press the ball and force some turnovers. That’s the good thing as far as what we try to do in forcing turnovers and getting it into an up and down game,” King said.
With Hart leading the way, eventually, the Tigers’ depth began to wear down the Bulldogs in the third quarter.
“I thought the third quarter, we really took control of the game and kind of stretched it out a bit,” King added.
After Marshall County built a 27-15 lead at the half, the key focus for Cornresville was feeding big man Kel Ford in the low post.
“We talked about trying to use our size to an advantage. I thought we did so at times, although there were times we didn’t do as good of a job. We also didn’t knock down those outside shots we needed to open things up,” Brown said.
He was able to attack from the paint and draw several fouls, but only connected on 1-of-5 free throw attempts in the period.
Ford was the only Bulldog to reach double figures, as he posted an 11-point night.
The Bulldogs get a bit of a break until they travel to Wayne County on January 3, while the Tigers will host the Marshall County Classic this week.

Cornersville 6 9 8 8 — 32
Marshall Co. 10 17 12 14 — 53

Cornersville: Kel Ford 11, Blaine Woodard 7, Hayden Grover 6, Gage Lovell 5, Carter Neat 3.
Marshall Co.: Jayden Hart 22, Aja Jones 12, Markel Harris 5, Jabrae Howard 4, Jamahl Gentry 4, Marcus O’Neal 3, Marquay Allen 2, Markese Davis.
3-Point goals: Marshall Co. (3): Howard, Gentry, Howard; Cornersville (2): Ford, Neat.
Halftime score: Marshall Co. 27, Cornersville 15.