Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Bowling Green
Bowling Green Escapes With 79-78 Victory Over Marshall
12/22/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2006
Marshall-Bowling Green Gamebook
Download Free Acrobat Reader
HUNTINGTON - Bowling Green guard Martin Samarco scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Falcons to a 79-78 win over the Thundering Herd Friday night at Cam Henderson Center.
The two former Mid-American Conference rivals battled back and forth in a tight ball game for the first 28 minutes of the contest which featured ten lead changes and 11 ties up to that point. Bowling Green then began a 16-0 run on a Darryl Clements three-pointer with 11:50 to go in the contest to tie the score at 57. MU would not score again until a Markel Humphrey (Ellenwood, Ga.) lay-up nearly four minutes later, and by then the Falcons lead had ballooned to 11 points, 70-59.
Despite Bowling Green never giving up the lead the rest of the way, Marshall (3-8), as it has done all season, stormed back from the 13-point deficit in the final eight minutes of regulation, and had a chance to win the game with the contest's last shot. BGSU (7-3) made one-of-two with 32 seconds remaining to give the Falcons a 79-75 lead, but the Herd cut the Bowling Green lead to one, 79-78, 12 seconds later on a made three by Mark Dorris (Cincinnati, Ohio). On the ensuing inbounds, Bowling Green's Darryl Clements was tied up by Travis Aikens (Orlando, Fla.), and with the possession arrow favoring Marshall, the Thundering Herd had one last shot to win the game. Dorris, who scored 17 second-half points, put up a 15-foot jumper with one second remaining, but the shot came up short and the Falcons came away with the defensive rebound and the victory.
"I'd say their 16 unanswered points in the second half was the story of the game," said Marshall head coach Ron Jirsa. "We've got to handle the ball better, get back on defense and not rush. That all contributed to Bowling Green's stretch in the second half. We have to get back on defense and that helped them get some uncontested lay-ups."
"We had some good on-the-ball defense," said Jirsa when asked about how his team got back in the contest. "We were able to get some steals from our press and then were able to make a couple of stops as well. We were more aggressive. If you said we would give up 16 unanswered points in the second half and still have a chance to win, I would have said you're crazy. But we have to do the easy things and get down to playing basketball."
Dorris, who scored a team-high 22 points, says the team is still fighting and will continue to fight for the rest of the season.
"We still are hanging together as a team," said Dorris. "We have faith in each other. Not much has changed. We are antsy to win these games, but we still have the same mentality. We are right there every game. We just need to make some key stops and do more little things to change the losses to wins."
Marshall shot 43.6% for the game, compared to 47.5% for the Falcons, and committed 18 turnovers, which resulted in 20 BGSU points.
The Herd also got double-digit scoring efforts from Travis Aikens, who scored 18 points, and Markel Humphrey, who added 11 points.
Martin Samarco led Bowling Green with 24 points. Nate Miller added a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Dusan Radivojevic tallied 11 points.
"I was reading before the game that up or down all of Marshall's games come down to the end," said Bowling Green coach Dan Dakich. "Our team is the same, so I was not surprised this game went down to the end. Fortunately for us, their shot at the end missed. It was in the hoop and out. We had a great stretch without Marco, which was a first for our team all year. And we were tough enough at the end to hang on and win."
Marshall returns to action on December 30 at home against ACC foe Virginia Tech. The game will tip off at 4 p.m., and will be televised by Comcast Sports Southeast.
