MURRAY—Calloway County edged 4th District boys’ basketball opponent Marshall County, 58-53, at Jeffrey Gymnasium to claim a split of the teams’ season series.

The win is Calloway’s 11th in its past 12 games, as it improved to 13-8 overall and concluded district play with a 4-2 record. Marshall, who won the first meeting at Draffenville, 66-61, after building a substantial lead and holding off the Lakers in the last quarter, slipped to 17-6 overall with the identical 4-2 mark in district play.

Unlike the first game, Calloway started strong on Friday. The Lakers ruled the first quarter, creating a 22-13 advantage. But by halftime, Marshall was up 31-30.

The game was nip and tuck the rest of the way, with the Lakers being the team maintaining the lead late in the game this time.

The Lakers won because they shot the ball exceptionally well, ending up at 58% from the field (21 for 36). They also made a strong 41% of their 3-point shots, nailing 7 of their 17 efforts.

“It was the kind of game you expect when we play Marshall,” said Lakers Head Coach Brad Cleaver, who experienced multiple pressure-packed games with Marshall as a sharpshooting guard for Calloway in the 1990s. “When we went to their place, they beat us by five points. Tonight at our place, we beat them by five points.”

The one thing that hindered the Lakers from pulling away from the Marshals was that they struggled at the free throw line, making only nine of their 17 attempts (only 55%).

“That’s unusual for us,” Cleaver added. “We usually make about 75% of our free throws. Tonight, we only made four of 11 in the fourth quarter. But when you can do that and still win the way we did, that’s really important.

“I think, defensively, we’re getting better every game. And we know that’s what we need to do to become an exceptional defensive ball club. If we do that, we’ll be in good shape.”

Guard Eli Finley led the Lakers with 19 points. Guard Jonah Butler had 15, guard Conner Lockhart had seven, forward Luke Armstrong and guard Kolt Bazzell each had seven, and forward Stephen Lane had three.