The Marshall County Tigers travelled to Fairview Saturday night for an opening round Region 6-AA Tournament contest that continued a long-standing rivalry that goes back decades as district foes and postseason opponents.

The regular season District 12-AA champion Tigers stumbled in their first game of the district tournament, but they game out running and gunning on Saturday as they jumped out to a huge lead that propelled MCHS to a 60-53 win over the Yellow Jackets.

“This feels great right now, other teams in the state are not getting to play and we are still getting to play, so it just feels better than what everybody else is feeling,” said Marshall County junior Devonte Davis, who turned in a spectacular performance, pouring in a game-high 33 points, one point shy of his career best. “I’m extremely proud because I know this is a sign that if we keep playing like this throughout the stretch, we can make it to the Murphy Center and end the season there.”

Davis took the ball to the rack often, scoring 12 field goals on mostly drives in the lane, banged home one 3-pointer, and went a solid 6-fo-9 from the free throw line, including a clutch 5-for-6 in the fourth quarter.

Kaamil Hazel was also in double figures with 10 points, Omari Alred had nine, and Jayden Hart and Bryson Hughes added four points apiece.

With the win, the Tigers (16-7) face another familiar foe when they travel to Community (20-7) Tuesday night in the region semifinals versus the Vikings, who sweated out a 57-50 overtime win over Stewart County.

District 11-AA number one seeded Creek Wood (25-4) erased a three-point halftime deficit at home versus Forrest (3-21), beating the Rockets 74-64 and will host Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (13-11) in the other semifinal.

Central Magnet beat Camden 58-46 in Murfreesboro Saturday night and the winners of Tuesday night’s Region 6-AA semifinals will play for the region on Thursday night and also in a state sectional game on Monday, March 8.

The Tigers beat Community 71-70 at Unionville earlier in the season, but lost 65-56 at the Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium in Lewisburg in the regular season series split.

The two squads have split eight games since becoming District12-AA members in 2018.

“I expect another battle over there (Unionville), but I also expect a little revenge, I expect to come home with a ‘W’ and keep it going,” Davis said.

The Tigers displayed a devastating defense and great rebounding from the start of the contest Saturday night as Alred scored on a rebound and put-back to begin the scoring and after a Fairview missed shot, Hughes banged home a 3-pointer for the Tigers.

A Hughes steal led a Kaamil Hazel layup before another Fairview miscue turned in to a Davis slam dunk and a 9-0 Marshall County lead.

Jacob Neal finally scored for the Yellow Jackets with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter, but the Tigers took off again, outscoring Fairview 11-2 for the remainder of the stanza and led 20-4 after the first eight minutes.

“All year long we have beaten teams with our press and trap, so our game plan coming in was to start off fast and we did exactly that,” Davis said. “Our defense made some good steals down the stretch and finished down at the other end and we hit free throws this game and that made it easier to put the game away.”

The Tigers picked up right where they left off in the second period as Kaamil Hazel came up with a steal and score on Fairview’s first possession.

Hughes followed with a bucket after a Fairview missed shot and Davis drilled his lone long bomb after a Yellow Jackets’ turnover, giving the Tigers a 19-point lead.

Marshall County went on to lead by as many as 22 points late in the second period before Mays McCoy converted a three-point play on a drive to the hoop and Kennedy Pendergrass scored at the buzzer to end the first half with MCHS on top 31-12.

The Yellow Jackets swarmed the Tigers at the outset of the second half as they stung back with a huge 14-0 run that included three 3-pointers, closing the gap to 31-26 before Davis hit one free throw to bust the streak with 4:03 left in the third quarter.

The Tigers held them off the rest of the stanza and led 37-29, entering the fourth quarter and it looked like they were in control when Davis scored on a drive to the hoop to give MCHS a 47-35 lead with five minutes remaining in the contest.

But Fairview kept on buzzing and stinging as put together a 10-2 run that was capped off by a Neal 3-pointer to make it a 51-45 contest with 1:33 left in the game.

Fairview went in the fouling mode, but made a big mistake with an intentional foul that basically sealed their fate when Davis made one-of-two on the technical and moments later, Alred drilled two more charity shots to make it an 11-point game at 54-45.

After a Fairview missed shot, Davis drilled two more free throws with under a minute to play and that was enough to secure the win for the Tigers, who will tip-off at Community at 7 p.m. tomorrow night.

Pendergrass led the Yellow Jackets in the scoring column with 19 points (two 3-pointers) and Jackson Arnold was also in double figures with 14 points (four 3-pointers).

McCoy added eight points, Neal had seven (3-pointer), Jack Estes had one 3-pointer, and Jon Sawyer had two markers.

The Tigers have not appeared in a region final game since 2015-2016 when they lost to CPA, but came back with a last second win at Maplewood in the state sectional game that propelled them to the state tournament where they lost in the first round.

Marshall County’s last region title came in the 2010-2011 season when they beat Giles County in the Region 6-AA title game at Creek Wood for back-to-back region crowns.

Marshall County 20 11 6 23-60

Fairview 4 8 17 24-53

Marshall County (60): Devonte Davis 33, Kaamil Hazel 10, Omari Alred 9, Jayden Hart 4, Bryson Hughes 4.

Three-Point Goals (3): Hazel, Hughes, Davis.

Free Throws (15-for-27): Davis 6-for-9, Alred 3-for-8, Hazel 3-for-6, Hart 2-for-2, Hughes 1-for-2.

Fairview (53): Kennedy Pendergrass 19, Jackson Arnold 14, Mays McCoy 8, Jacob Neal 7, Jack Estes 3, Jon Sawyer 2.

Three-Point Goals (8): Arnold 4, Pendergrass 2, Estes, Neal.

Free Throws (5-for-9): Pendergrass 3-for-4, McCoy 2-for-4, Estes 0-for-1.

Halftime Score: Marshall County 31, Fairview 12.