The Marshall County Tigers travelled to Chapel Hill Tuesday night for an early big District 12-AA contest with MCHS coming in riding a five-game winning streak while the Rockets entered the intra-county rivalry game stuck in an eight-game losing skid.

The Rockets played three quarters with the lead before Marshall County exploded in the fourth quarter, running and gunning their way to a 23-point period and a convincing 57-46 win.

“It’s nice to string a few games in a row, it develops confidence in the team,” MCHS coach Lavon King said. “I think we just wore them down with our relentless pressure and made some key steals down the stretch.”

Devonte Davis led the Tigers in the scoring column with 15 points and Omarion Alred and Bryson Hughes were also in double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectfully.

Kaamil Hazel added eight points, Silas Hurt netted seven, and Jaamil Hazel and Carson Boyd had two points apiece.

Brennan Mealer had a big night for the Rockets with a game-high 17 points, including five 3-pointers.

Walker Herring was also in double figures with 11 points, CJ Sanchez had nine (all 3’s), Hunter Bennett six, and Tayton Swift nailed one 3-pointer.

Forrest started quickly, jumping out to a 13-3 lead after a Sanchez 3-pointer with 2:06 remaining in the first quarter.

The Tigers calmed the tide with back-to-back buckets by Davis and Alred to cut the Forrest lead to 13-7 after the first eight minutes.

Sanchez drained another 3-pointer to begin the second quarter and after Lewisburg baskets by Hughes and Jaamil Hazel, Mealer canned a 3-pointer for a 19-11 Forrest lead.

Hurt scored in the low post for the Tigers and moments later, Hughes sank a 3-pointer to slice the Forrest lead to three points at 19-16.

Mealer drilled a 3-pointer and then came up with a steal and score to make it 24-16, but once again the Tigers stayed close on back-to-back baskets by Boyd and Kaamil Hazel and Forrest led 24-20 at the half.

Marshall County managed to cut the lead to two points early in the third period, but the Rockets came up with an 8-2 mini-run behind six Herring points to extend the lead to 35-27.

The Tigers persisted, putting together a huge 7-2 run that was capped off by a long Davis 3-pointer that made it a 37-34 contest, entering the fourth quarter.

Another Sanchez 3-pointer gave the Rockets a 40-37 lead early in the final stanza before Alred took over, scoring on a steal and score to make it one-point contest and then the Tigers swiped the rock again and fed Alred over the top for the go-head bucket with 3:48 remaining in the contest.

Herring made one of two from the free throw line to tie the game at 41 before the Tigers put the game away with a 10-0 run, beginning with a Kaamil Hazel 3-pointer and ending on back-to-back Alred buckets to make it 51-41 with a minute and half left to play in the game.

The Tigers cruised to their sixth win a row and share first place in the district with three other teams.

“We still have a few games to go before we will have seen everyone in the district, each team gives us our challenges,” King said. “We just got to keep getting better as a team and working on ourselves.”

The Tigers (9-4, 3-0) host Murfreesboro Central Magnet (7-6, 2-0) for homecoming on Friday night while the Rockets (2-10, 0-3) entertain Nolensville (9-5, 2-0).

MCHS 7 13 14 23-57

Forrest 13 11 13 9-46

MCHS (57): Devonte Davis 15, Omarion Alred 13, Bryson Hughes 10, Kaamil Hazel 8, Silas Hurt 7, Jaamil Hazel 2, Carson Boyd 2.

Three-Point Goals (4): Hughes 2, Davis, Kaamil Hazel.

Free Throws (5-for-8): Hurt 3-for-3, Alred 1-for-2, Kaamil Hazel 1-for-2, Davis 0-for-1.

Forrest (46): Brennan Mealer 17, Walker Herring 11, CJ Sanchez 9, Hunter Bennett 6, Tayton Swift 3.

Three-Point Goals (9): Mealer 5, Sanchez 3, Swift.

Free Throws (3-for-4): Bennett 2-for-2, Herring 1-for-2.

Halftime Score: Forrest 24, MCHS 20.