Marshall University Athletics
Herd Comeback, Patton Free Throws, Douse Blazers, 68-66
12/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Herd Comeback, Patton Free Throws, Douse Blazers, 68-66
12/31/2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Mark Patton (Barboursville, W.Va.) knocked down two free throws with four tenths of a second to go in regulation to give the Thundering Herd a 68-66 victory over UAB in non-conference action Tuesday night.
The free throws capped a dramatic comeback by the Herd, who trailed by 11 points on two occasions in the second half.
"We hung in there against a tough UAB team," said Marshall head coach Ron Jirsa. "We had to overcome turnovers with good shooting and clutch free throws to get the win tonight."
The Blazers, who entered the game ranked 19th in the latest RPI rankings, led for most of the first half and took a 36-31 advantage into the halftime break.
Marshall trailed by 11 points at 51-40 with 13:20 to go in regulation, but kept the game close to the waning minutes, putting themselves in position to win the game with clutch shooting and great defense. With just under five minutes to play, Marshall cut the Blazer lead to three at 62-59 on a Ronny Dawn (Fort Thomas, Ky.) three-pointer. Dawn, one of the country's top sharpshooters from beyond-the-arc, struggled early, but came on to make some huge long range shots with time winding down. Enoch Bunch (Nashville, Tn.) threw in a running, acrobatic layup to cut the margin to one at the 3:32 mark and Dawn gave Marshall their first lead since 9:20 in the first half with a three-point basket right in front of the Herd bench to make the score 64-62 with 1:47 to go.
UAB tied the game on two Gabe Kennedy free throws, but freshman Tre Whitted (Wilmington, N.C.) scored a huge bucket from the left elbow to give MU a 66-64 lead. Kennedy made a layup to tie the score at 66, and Marshall brought the ball in the frontcourt and called a timeout with 2.4 seconds to go. The inbounds pass came into Patton, who caught the ball at the free throw line and whirled unimpeded to the basket, where he was fouled by UAB's Demar Eddins. Patton knocked down both free throws with .4 seconds to go to give the Herd the win.
The Herd struggled all night handling the ball, committing 24 turnovers for the evening. However, UAB did not take advantage of Marshall's miscues, scoring only 13 points off of those turnovers. Marshall dominated the boards, 42-31, and outshot the Blazers, 48% to 38%.
Marshall was led by Marvin Black (Cleveland, Ohio) with 13 points and seven rebounds. Patton and Dawn also chipped in ten points in the winning effort.
UAB's Gabe Kennedy led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting. Richard Jones was the only other Blazer player in double-figures with ten points.
The Herd continue MAC play with a game at Central Michigan this Saturday. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.