Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Falls Short in Heartbreaker at Ohio, 70-65
3/1/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Marshall Falls Short in Heartbreaker at Ohio, 70-65
3/1/2003
- Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio - Ohio University scored 12 points in the final 2:51 of regulation, 10 of which came at the free throw line, to break a 58-58 tie and take a 70-65 win over visiting Marshall University in Mid-American Conference men's basketball action Saturday.
"I'm proud of the way we competed and fought today," Marshall head coach Greg White said. "We played well enough to win and I think every one of our players did what they had to do for us to be successful. The ball just did not bounce our way in the end."
Ohio (11-14 overall, 7-9 MAC) recieved a strong 20-point, 16-rebound effort from senior forward Brandon Hunter. Hunter, Ohio's all-time career rebounding leader, hit five of 10 shots from the floor and managed to connect of 10 of 13 free throws in the contest.
"Brandon (Hunter) is a great player and I wish him nothing but the best," White said. "He is definetly a MAC Player of the Year candidate, right up there with Chris Kaman at Central Michigan. He always gets his points and rebounds and I think he is an NBA guy."
Steve Esterkamp added 19 points, while Jeff Halbert netted 17 for the Bobcats who were playing in front of a senior-day and sibs weekend announced crowd of 8,994 in the Convo.
Marshall (12-13 overall, 8-8 MAC) was led by Ronald Blackshear's 21 points. The junior from Camilla, Ga. helped Marshall erase a 38-33 halftime deficit by scoring 15 points in the second half.
unior forward Marvin Black added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Herd, while sophomore David Anderson and freshman Mark Patton chipped in with eight and seven points, respectively.
After trailing by as much as 11 points (47-36 at the 15:42 mark) in the second stanza, Marshall rallied with a 23 to 10 run to take a two point lead with 3:13 to play.
Following a 30-second Marshall time out, freshman center Mark Patton, who earned his second consecutive start and played a career-high 28 minutes, was whistled for three fouls in just over one minute of action, leading to his disqualification at the 1:26 mark and five made Ohio free throws that ended up giving Ohio a 62-61 lead at the 1:26 mark.
"I thought Mark and David both played very well today," White said.
Marshall would go on to answer a Steve Esterkamp jumper with two Marvin Black free throws to bring the game back to one at 64-63 with only 29 seconds to go. Three seconds later, the Herd's A.W. Hamilton fouled Ohio's Jeff Halbert who promptly connected on both of his free throws to put the lead back to three.
Once again, Marshall cut the lead down to one. With only 14 seconds to go, Marvin Black put back a Ronny Dawn missed three-pointer to narrow the score to 66-65. On the following inbounds, Marshall's David Anderson fouled Brandon Hunter and with 10 seconds on the clock Hunter failed to convert on both free-throw attempts.
Marshall's Marvin Black pulled down the second of Hunter's missed free throws and passed the ball to Marshall's Ronald Blackshear on the wing when Ohio's Thomas Stephens cut in front of Blackshear and stole the ball with Ohio still leading only by one.
Two seconds later, Marshall's Marvin Black, attempting to foul Stephens in order to stop the clock, was whistled for an intentional foul that gave Ohio two free throws and the basketball with only seven seconds showing on the clock.
Following Stephens' final two free throws, Marshall's Monty Wright fouled Brandon Hunter and his final two free throws pushed the Ohio lead to the final of 70-65.
For the game, Ohio made 21 of 40 shots from the field and converted on 4 of 12 three-point attempts. The Bobcats outrebounded Marshall 32-26 and made it to the free throw line 32 times where they connected on 24 shots.
Meanwhile, Marshall shot 27 of 58 from the floor, 3 of 15 from three point range, and managed to hit eight of its 12 free throw attempts.
Ohio commited 16 turnovers, while Marshall turned the ball over 11 times.
Marshall will attempt to get back on track when it travels to the University of Akron for a 7:30 p.m. contest Wednesday.
