Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall sophomore forward Oliver Voigt looks toward the basket in the first half against Waseca in a Big South Conference matchup Friday night in Marshal. The Tigers fell to the Bluejays 69-66.

MARSHALL — Coming down to the final possession after a back-and-forth battle, the Marshall boys basketball team came up just short in a 69-66 loss to Waseca Friday night in a Big South Conference matchup. Sophomore forward Oliver Voigt led the Tigers with a 28-point, 16-rebound double-double.

The Tigers and Bluejays were locked 33-33 at halftime after a competitive opening half on both ends of the floor, which just grew stronger as the intensity grew throughout the second with neither team able to break away to a large lead.

“We had a disappointing loss. To be up 7 points with about three minutes to go, and have the other team run … is extremely disappointing,” Marshall head coach Travis Carroll said. “We put ourselves in a situation where we had a chance to execute offensively … Kind of goes back to details. If it’s executing a play correctly, or, being in the right spots defensively. We didn’t execute very well the last few minutes.”

The game continued to go nearly basket-for-basket with a handful of lead changes, but Voigt was able to give the Tigers a little bit of room with 3:22 to go after draining a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 65-59 lead.

Deron Russell however, was red-hot all night and kept the Bluejays in the game after cutting into a 66-63 deficit with a steal and fastbreak layup. He led all scorers with 41 points.

“We were definitely aware of him [Russell]. We needed to be in certain spots on help defense to try to make some of those shots difficult,” Carroll said. “What hurt us with him tonight was transition. Whether it was us turning the ball over, maybe not taking a good shot and weren’t able to get back, and he was very good in transition.”

With 52.7 seconds to go, Russell was fouled on a drive and made both free throws to give the Bluejays a 67-66 edge.

Neither Marshall or Waseca scored on their next possessions as the Bluejays called a timeout with 24 seconds left. Out of the timeout, Ethan Hiller tipped the ball in after a shot for a 69-66 Waseca edge with 14.3 seconds.

On the final possession with two seconds on the clock after Waseca missed a free throw, Marshall looked to throw the ball down the court for a 3-pointer to tie the score, but Russell came out from behind for the steal to run the time out and hand the Tigers a loss.

“I thought our kids did a good job up to that point working through. [Waseca] was playing a zone defense,and our kids did a good job of working through that zone defense and trading some good looks,” Carroll said. “We had a nice run there in the second half to get us up to that point, and just kind of got away from us.”

The Bluejays opened the second half with back-to-back baskets to take the lead, but Andrew Lee put a stop to any run from starting with an answer himself followed with a Voigt 3-pointer to put the Tigers back in front, 38-37.

Levi Maeyaert got another hot-hand going for Marshall with a pair of 3-pointers to force a Waseca timeout after grabbing a 44-39 edge.

Yet, the Bluejays climbed back into the fight on a 7-0 run to trail 56-55 with seven minutes to go, Russell, who had over half of Waseca’s points with 31 after finishing the run with a fastbreak dunk.

Maeyaert and Davion Xayarath also finished in double figures alongside Voigt with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Andrew Lee had a team-high two steals and three assists.

“The kids did a much better job of working together on offense tonight. We had a pretty tough game on Tuesday where we didn’t work together very well offensively,” Carroll said. “We had some good moments, but obviously, you just kind of think about the last few minutes. It could have been better.”

Marshall heavily out-rebounded Waseca 50-28, but the Tigers ultimately gave up 19 turnovers on the night to the Bluejays’ 11.

Overall, the Tigers shot 33% from the field and the perimeter, while Waseca finished with a 43% mark and 24% at the 3.

Voigt led all scorers with 19 points in the first half, closely followed by Russell’s 17 points. Voigt also shot 5 for 7 from deep on the night.

Xayarath got the scoring started with an immediate layup after Marshall won tipoff, as Voigt hit a jump shot and a 3-pointer for a tied 7-7 start to begin the night.

Noah Pieper had a fast break layup and-1, as Maeyaert did the same on the next possession for a 15-13 edge.

Becoming tied 25-25, Voigt went on a run with a block, offensive putback and a 3-pointer to put Marshall ahead 33-31 before the Bluejays once again tied to score going into halftime.

The Tigers entered the night coming off its first loss of the season, falling 53-52 again in the final seconds to Delano on Tuesday. Marshall started the year on a four-game win streak prior.

Marshall (4-2) will have a few days off before taking the court again to play in next weekend’s holiday tournament. The Tigers will look to get back in the win column when they take on No. 9 Jackson County Central (3-2) next Saturday at Southwest Minnesota State University at 6 p.m. in the R/A Facility.