Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Ohio
Bobcats Outlast Thundering Herd, 84-78, In Overtime
12/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2006
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ATHENS, Ohio - Travis Aikens (Orlando, Fla.) scored a game-high 19 points, but it was not enough for Marshall, as the Ohio Bobcats came away with an 84-78 overtime victory Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio.
The Thundering Herd falls to 2-5, while the Bobcats improve to 3-1.
Marshall rallied back into the game after trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half. The 16-point advantage came with 3:40 to go in the first stanza at 35-19, but the Herd responded, closing out the first half on an 11-4 run to cut the Ohio lead to 39-30 heading into the break.
The Bobcats maintained a ten-point lead early in the second half, and with 12:41 to go in regulation, Ohio held a 51-38 advantage. Three minutes and 14 Thundering Herd points later, Marshall grabbed its first lead since the 13 minute mark at 52-51. Aikens scored five points in the 14-point rally, sophomore Darryl Merthie (Sanford, Fla.) scored seven points, and Tre Whitted (Wilmington, N.C.) added a jumper of his own to vault Marshall into the lead.
From the 9:12 mark to the end of regulation, both teams battled in a game that featured eight lead changes and five ties. With 29 seconds to go, Ohio's Jerome Tillman put the Bobcats back on top with a three-point opportunity, making a layup to make the score 65-64. Tillman missed the free throw, and the Herd had a chance to take the lead on its next possession.
Freshman Tyler Wilkerson (Lexington, Ky.) got the ball in the lane with 14 seconds to go, but missed an eight-footer to give Marshall the lead. Ohio's Whitney Davis got the defensive rebound, and sent an outlet pass to the Bobcats' Bubba Walther, who was fouled. Walther made the first of two free throws, and then missed the second to make the score, 66-64. Aikens grabbed the rebound, raced the length of the floor, and was fouled going hard to the basket. Aikens made both free throws to send the game into overtime, Marshall's second on the young 2006-07 season.
Ohio controlled the overtime session, opening the final five minutes on a 5-0 run to make the score 71-66. The lead expanded to eight on two occasions for the Bobcats, but the Herd once again showed its mettle, cutting the OU lead to two at 80-78 with 11 seconds to go in overtime. That was as close as Marshall would get, as the Bobcats converted four free throws, two by Tillman and two by Walther, to close out the Herd.
Marshall shot 40.6% on the day on 26-64 shooting, and 36.8% from three on 14-of-38 shooting. The Herd made 12-of-15 free throws for an 80% clip.
The Bobcats fired in 46% of its shots, and made only one three out of nine attempts (11.1%). Ohio was hot from the free throw line, making 37-of-42 shots (88.1%), more than three times the Herd's makes from the charity stripe.
"We cannot allow that many free throws," said head coach Ron Jirsa. "We cannot withstand 37 made free throws."
"We got back into the game by playing more aggressive, playing better defense, and boxing out better," said sophomore Markel Humphrey (Ellenwood, Ga.). "However, we've got to learn our zone offense a little better and not shoot as many threes."
Aikens led all scorers with 19 points and all Herd rebounders with six. Darryl Merthie scored a career-best 16 points, Markel Humphrey added 12, Tre Whitted chipped in 11, and Mark Dorris (Cincinnati, Ohio) tallied ten points.
Bobcat junior center Leon Williams led Ohio with 18 points. All four of Ohio's other starters, Jerome Tillman (17), Whitney Davis (16), Sonny Troutman (15), and Bubba Walther (14) scored in double-digits.
Marshall returns to the road Monday night at Memphis in its first conference game of the season. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. EST.
