Photo by Samantha Davis. Marshall's Alex Franson goes up for a dunk in the first half against Jackson County Central at the Fastbreak Holiday Tournament at Southwest Minnesota State University Tuesday night. Both Franson and Cooper Mensink finished with 20 points in the Tigers' 71-67 double overtime loss.

MARSHALL — The Marshall boys basketball team showed grit and resiliency as it overcame a double-digit deficit behind aggressive defense, but fell just short 71-67 to the undefeated Jackson County Central Huskies in double overtime at the Fastbreak Holiday Tournament at Southwest Minnesota State University Tuesday night.

Alex Franson and Cooper Mensink combined for 40 points to lead the Tigers, finishing with 20 apiece.

“As you get into overtime, it’s a different type of adversity that we haven’t been through yet this year. It’s a challenge for the kids to work through,” Marshall head coach Travis Carroll said. “In overtime, a 2 or 3-point lead seems like a bigger lead, just because there’s not as much time on the clock … We were able to get ahead in that first [overtime], but we just weren’t able to build on that lead more.”

Mason Graven also finished with 10 points, while Franson had a team-high four assists and Mensink led with six rebounds.

The Tigers shot 35% from the field, 20% from the arc going 6 for 30, and 58% at the free throw line, going 11 for 19. JCC shot at 51-43-62% marks.

Marshall went into halftime down by 7 points, and trailed by as many as 15 in the second half, but eventually erased the deficit and came back to tie the game up at 53. From there to the final buzzer, several lead changes took place until JCC secured its win in the last minute at the free throw line.

During a timeout in the second half right before the Tigers began to rally back, they could be heard encouraging one another about bringing more energy and trusting one another.

Just that started to show on the court.

Midway through when the Tigers were in the midst of fighting a 45-30 trail, they turned the notch up on their defense when it mattered most.

The Tigers forced 11 turnovers on the Huskies, which they collected 12 extra points from. Marshall finished with seven turnovers.

“We exerted a lot of energy on the defensive end to try to limit some of the things that Jackson County Central was doing. Jackson County Central is a very good basketball team that provides some challenges,” Carroll said. “Our kids did a good job of working through those challenges. Give Jackson County Central credit, they were able to continue to execute their offense and create opportunities.”

Marshall forced a 10-second violation on JCC with its full-court press, followed up with another steal which resulted in a Levi Maeyaert jump shot to bring the game within a basket, 51-49.

Marshall tied the game up at 53 with a minute and a half to go in regulation after Franson hit a 3-pointer, and Graven next got a steal off the press and found a cutting Mensink for a baseline layup.

“We executed better on the offensive end. We really struggled in the first half executing offensively,” Carroll said. “Our press was able to cause some problems. We were creating some tips and steals from our press, and it was good to see the kids make a comeback again.”

Marshall finished with 11 steals to JCC’s five.

With 45 seconds to go and traded field goals for a tie at 55, JCC had the possession and ran the clock down to 12.8 seconds when Marshall tipped the ball out of bounds.

Off the Huskie inbound, Marshall didn’t allow them to get a shot off to bring the game to overtime.

After a stagnant start in the extra minutes, Mensink hit a 3-pointer to create a 60-58 edge, but JCC tied it up with a pair of free throws.

JR Vierstraete hit a jumper, then drew a charge on defense with 58 seconds to go with Marshall up 62-60.

With 9.3 seconds on the clock, JCC had the ball and made the go-ahead field goal to once again tie the game, and brought it to double overtime.

The Huskies hit a 3 from the top of the key to open the second extra period, which Braxton Koster hit one of his own in response.

JCC began to change the game’s momentum as it hit a jump shot after collecting an offensive board, and got a steal off Marshall on defense.

The Tigers finished with 24 rebounds to JCC’s 21.

After being fouled on the fast break, the Huskies made a free throw for a 68-65 edge with a minute left.

Both teams were in bonus, and another Tiger foul gave JCC two more free throws for a two-possession 70-65 lead.

Franson rushed and made a layup to cut the deficit to three, yet JCC was put at the line and made one more free throw to expand to a 71-67 lead with 5.4 seconds to go.

With Marshall’s final inbound play, a long pass up the court for a deep 3-point attempt and a rebound putback didn’t fall as the final buzzer rang.

“It’s always disappointing to fall short. We were kind of in the same situation last night [Monday’s 58-56 win], where we were behind and were able to come back and win a close game, but tonight we just weren’t able to get going,” Carroll said. “Hopefully we can do a better job of not putting ourselves in the spots to where we’re having to come back, and hopefully build some leads in games.”

The first half quickly established the game was going to be high-pressure competition, as both teams fed off one another’s energy offensively and defensively straight away.

JCC got the game started on a 6-0 run, which Marshall quickly caught up to.

Mensink, who finished with a team-high trio of 3-pointers, tied the score up at 8 with a 3, and gave Marshall its first lead 10-8 after getting a steal and made a fast break layup.

The Tigers struggled late in the first half with getting shots to fall, specifically with layup opportunities. But, they made up for it on defense and forced a shot clock violation with a pair of over-and-back calls to frustrate JCC.

The half ended with Franson crashing the paint for a right-handed layup, to which JCC responded with a 3-pointer and went into the locker room with a 29-22 lead.

The Huskies came out of halftime on another 6-0 run to advance to a 13-point lead, to which Marshall didn’t allow to grow much further.

The Tigers move to 6-2 on the season, and will look to get back on its feet when they face an undefeated No. 3 Waseca (10-0) team on Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. tip off.

“We got to get to practice, and get back to work. Definitely a lot of things for us to work on,” Carroll said. “We got a game on Saturday, and then we’ll have another tough stretch coming next week. Just got to stick with it and continue to work hard.”