The Marshall County Tigers entertained Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (MCM) at the Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium in Friday night’s homecoming contest, looking to extend their winning streak to seven games.

The Tigers had little trouble in the District 12AA contest, easily beating their namesakes 49-34 to move to 10-4 on the season and undefeated at 4-0 in league play.

“These kids are hungry, they want to be successful and try to win the district and even further beyond that,” MCHS coach Lavon King said. “They are trying to keep their eye on the prize and trying to win one game at a time and when you have a good group of kids that wants the best for each other, than their success follows.”

Marshall County came out strong defensively, only giving up 10 first half points and led 28-10 at the break and by 16 at the end of third quarter in the 15-point win.

“Defensively we came out with an intensity like I haven’t seen all year,” King said. “I strongly feel that if we play the first half every game like that, we will be a hard out.”

“These guys got after it and they were ready for the challenge , so I was glad to see us only give up 10 points in the first half, so that was really special.”

Bryson Hughes led all scorers in the contest with 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and a solid 3-for-4 effort from the free throw line.

Devonte Davis was also in double figures with 13 points, Jayden Hart had eight points, Omari Alred seven, Kintarius Morris had one 3-pointer, Kaamil Hazel added a deuce, and Carson Boyd had one marker for MCHS.

MCM (7-7, 2-1) did not have any scorers in double figures as Avery Lambert led the way with nine points, Elijah Conrad scored eight, Gage Swanson had six, Jayden Hernandez scored five, Corey Greeson three, Isaac Smith two, and Kyle Messerly had one point.

Alred drilled a 3-pointer to start the game and Hernandez scored for MCM before Davis came up with a slum dunk off of a fast break.

Hughes drilled his first three-bomb and the Tigers led 8-2 before Murfreesboro came back to trail 9-6, but Davis and Hart added buckets for Marshall County at the end of the first period and they led 13-6.

Davis scored to open up the second quarter and Messerly made one free throw before Hughes scored four straight points to make it a 19-7 contest.

Swanson knocked down a low post bucket and the MCHS Tigers took off again as Morris drilled a 3-pointer and Kaamil Hazel scored to put the home team up 24-9 with 5:05 remaining in the first half.

Hart came up huge with a pair of low post buckets and MCHS took an 18-point lead to the locker room at the half.

Hughes rained home a 3-pointer to start the second half before MCM went on a 10-1 run to cut the lead to 12 points at 32-20.

Davis righted the ship with back-to-back buckets to end the third quarter with MCHS in front 36-20.

Alred scored to start the final period and the two teams battled back and forth as Marshall County led 43-28 with three minutes to go in the game.

Hart scored his final bucket of the night and Swanson hit two free throws before Hughes put the game away with back-to-back buckets and Marshall County cruised to keep its winning streak alive.

MCHS (10-4, 4-0) and Nolensville (10-6, 3-0) squared off Tuesday in Williamson County and the Tigers return home on Friday when they entertain Community (9-9, 2-2).

In a new twist due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no neutral site for the upcoming district tournament as the higher seeded team will host until the winner is decided.

“They were asking about that as far as if we take care of business, the other teams will have to come here,” King said. “We won’t have the fans as usual, but it is always nice to play at the place you practice at all week, so we are looking forward to that and just have to take it one game at a time.”

MCM 6 4 10 14-34

MCHS 13 15 8 13-49

MCM (34): Avery Lambert 9, Elijah Conrad 8, Gage Swanson 6, Jayden Hernandez 5, Corey Greeson 3, Isaac Smith 2, Kyle Messerly 1.

Three-Point Goals (1): Conrad.

Free Throws (9-for-17): Lambert 3-for-3, Swanson 2-for-2, Hernandez 1-for-4, Conrad 1-for-4, Messerly 1-for-2, Greeson 1-for-2.

MCHS (49): Bryson Hughes 15, Devonte Davis 13, Jayden Hart 8, Omari Alred 7, Kintarius Morris 3, Kaamil Hazel 2, Carson Boyd 1.

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

Free Throws (5-for-7): Hughes 3-for-4, Boyd 1-for-2, Davis 1-for-1.

Halftime Score: Marshall County 28, Murfreesboro Central Magnet 10.