Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Morehead State
Thundering Herd Soars Over Morehead State, 81-80
11/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2006
Marshall-Morehead State Gamebook
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MOREHEAD, Ky. - Marshall senior forward Travis Aikens (Orlando, Fla.) scored 21 points to lead the Thundering Herd past Morehead State, 81-80, Wednesday night at Johnson Arena.
With the win, Marshall improves to 2-4, while the Eagles falls to 2-3.
"It's good to get the Ellis Johnson trophy back," said head coach Ron Jirsa about the traveling trophy between the two schools named after the former head coach at both Morehead State and Marshall. "We never gave up the lead, and we shot the ball very well. We also played better defense at the end of the game."
The Thundering Herd emerged with the lead after an early back-and-forth affair on a made jumper by Aikens to make the score 24-23 at the 7:29 mark. Marshall outscored Morehead State 16-7 from that point on in the first half to take a 40-30 lead into the break. MU fired in a season-best 57.7% (15-26) in the first half and made 55.6% (5-9) of its shots from beyond the arc.
Marshall never trailed the rest of the contest, and saw its lead balloon to 18 points at the 15:27 mark in the second half on a three-pointer by Aikens. Morehead State did not go away easily, as the Eagles chipped away at the Thundering Herd lead by being effective from three-point land, making 9-of-13 in the second half (69.2%) from beyond-the-arc. The Eagles nearly claimed the lead back with 3:28 to go in regulation, when the Eagles cut the Marshall lead to one on a Brandon Callahan three-pointer, 74-73.
The Herd responded, scoring six of next seven points to push its lead to 80-74. MSU's Quinton Prior knocked in a three with three seconds to play to make the score 80-77, and on the ensuing inbounds, Aikens was fouled. He missed the first free throw, but made the second to secure the win for Marshall. As time expired, Callahan threw in a halfcourt heave to make the final margin one, 81-80.
For the game, Marshall shot 58.7% from the field, its best percentage of the season, and 57.1% from three, also its best of the year. The Herd outrebounded the Eagles, 32-28, and made 19-of-28 free throws, compared to 5-of-9 for Morehead State.
"We were on in the first half, and then cooled off," said Aikens, who ended the night with 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting. "They made a run in the second half, but we had composure at the end and we pulled it out."
"They are a good three-point shooting team," said Markel Humphrey (Ellenwood, Ga.), who scored 19 points and made 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. "We relax sometimes in transition, and they took advantage of it with some threes. But, we kept our composure at the end."
"I think we played some tough teams in Alaska, and I think we benefited from that," said Jirsa. "We'll also benefit from this one."
Besides Aikens' 21 points and Humphrey's 19 points, senior guard Tre Whitted (Wilmington, N.C.) was the only other double-digit scorer with ten points. Jean Francois Bro Grebe (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) led Marshall on the glass with nine rebounds, while also adding three blocks.
Maze Stallworth led Morehead State with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three. Quentin Prior added 18 points, Brandon Callahan chipped in 17 points, and Cordaryl Ballard poured in 11 points. The Herd held Shaun Williams, the Eagles' leading scorer coming into the game at 16 points per contest, to only two points.
Marshall returns to the road against another geographic rival this Saturday, this time against Ohio. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m., and the game can be seen live locally in Huntington on WSAZ-TV.
