Marshall University Athletics
Western Kentucky Races To 70-54 Win Over Marshall Men
12/19/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Western Kentucky Races To 70-54 Win Over Marshall Men
12/19/2004
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. ? Western Kentucky junior guard Anthony Winchester led five Hilltopper players in double-figures in route to a 70-54 win over the Thundering Herd Saturday evening at E.A. Diddle Arena. WKU improves to 7-1, while Marshall drops to 1-6.
The deciding statistic for Western Kentucky was 24 Herd giveaways, 11 of which came on Hilltopper steals. WKU scored 27 points off of those turnovers and had ten more shot attempts from the floor. On the night, Western Kentucky shot 50% (29-58) from the field, compared to a 39.6% (19-48) clip for Marshall. Saturday?s Hilltopper shooting performance was the fifth time this season the Herd has allowed an opponent to shoot 49% or better.
?Western Kentucky is a good team, they played very well, and they deserved to win,? said head coach Ron Jirsa. ?They caused 24 turnovers, and got 27 points off of those turnovers, and I thought that was the big difference in the game.?
WKU controlled things from the outset, as the Herd never held the lead. The only tie came at 2-2 1:50 into the game. An 8-2 run and 8-0 WKU spurt in the early goings was too much for Marshall to overcome, as the Hilltoppers stretched their lead to 18 on two occasions, with the Herd getting no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
?When you?re playing a good team and they take it from you 11 times (steals), you?re going to struggle, especially against a team like Western Kentucky,? said Jirsa.
The Herd finished the game 5-19 from three (26.3%), and 11-12 at the free throw line (91.7%), its best outing of the year from the charity stripe.
Joe Miles (Forestville, Md.) led Marshall with 13 points, while junior center Mark Patton (Barboursville, W.Va) muscled his way to ten points and nine rebounds on the night.
Western Kentucky?s four other double-figure scorers were Elgrace Wilborn (14), Antonio Haynes (10), Danny Rumph (10), and Courtney Lee (10).
Marshall hosts High Point on Tuesday night at the Cam Henderson Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
