Big three, round two ...

It wasn't so shocking that Marshall County beat Paducah Tilghman, but how the Marshals did it.

Marshall didn't shoot the ball well from the perimeter, as it was thought it would need to — the Marshals hit just 2 of 14 tries from 3-point range in Tuesday night's 51-47 win. And they outrebounded a bigger, stronger Tilghman squad by a considerable margin.

They did it with defense, too, keeping Josh Forrest out of the lane for much of the night and not letting the Tornado shooters go wild from the perimeter, and their depth was clearly the equal of Tilghman's, with reserves Chase Clark, Peter Northcutt and Drew Williams providing quality minutes.

Stephen Atkinson had 24 points and 14 rebounds, is averaging a double-double and has put himself in the conversation for The Paducah Sun Purchase Player of the Year award. Guards Chase York and Cole Nelson were able to provide board support.

As for Tilghman — well, the Tornado missed a chance to possibly put the game away late in the first half, when Cody Schultz tried an alley-oop pass to Josh Forrest on the break with Tilghman up 29-18 and threatening to blow open the game. The move backfired, and the Marshals scored twice late in the half to cut the deficit to seven.

Was the Tornado a bit fatigued from a tough stretch of three games against solid opposition — district rival Heath, Graves County and Marshall — in a span of five days? Perhaps, especially since Tilghman was beaten back down the floor two or three times for Marshall baskets in transition in the fourth quarter.

And, of course, there is Tilghman's Achilles' Heel — the free throw line. The Tornado was 8-for-18 from the line, with Forrest going 3-for-12. In a close game, foul shooting is always going to give the Tornado's opponent a chance to sneak off with a win.