Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Men Continue Road Swing At East Carolina Saturday Evening
2/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2006
Marshall GameNotes
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - The Thundering Herd won the first game of its two-game road swing Wednesday evening at SMU, 75-72, in overtime. East Carolina is next up for the Marshall men Saturday evening at Williams Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
The Herd improved to 3-7 in league play, 10-13 overall with Wednesday's win over the Mustangs. Senior center Mark Patton (Barboursville, W.Va.) put the Herd on his back and led the team to victory - Patton scored a career-high 36 points on 13-of-17 shooting and added 13 rebounds in the win. Joe Miles scored 12 points, and freshman wing Markel Humphrey led the team on the glass with a career-high 15 rebounds. The Herd shot 48.1% from the floor and outrebounded the Mustangs, 46-31, on the night.
Mark Patton leads the way for Marshall in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 15.0 points and 6.8 rebounds a game, respectively. He has 12 career double-doubles, with his most recent coming in the win over. Patton's career high against SMU was the first time a Marshall player has scored 30 points since Marvin Black scored 30 points on February 24, 2004, against Ball State.
Additionally, Patton is only 19 points short of 1,000 points at 981 career points. Patton would be the Herd's 43rd 1,000 point scorer, pushing the Herd to 8th in the country in terms of 1,000 point scorers. Patton also has 614 rebounds in his career. With Patton's 1,000th point, he will become only the 12th player in the history of Marshall basketball to have 1,000 points and 600 rebounds.
Marshall's overtime affair with SMU makes the Herd 2-2 in overtime games in 2005-06, with wins coming over Kennesaw State (77-74) and SMU (75-72), and losses in overtime against George Washington and against Rice. The four overtime games is the most for a Herd team in one season since 1987-88, and Marshall is tied with Rice for the most overtime games played in Conference USA.
East Carolina enters Saturday's contest with a 7-16 overall record, 1-9 in Conference USA play. The Pirates have lost four consecutive games, a streak that began at the Henderson Center on February 1 with a 72-66 loss to the Herd. Senior forward Corey Rouse leads ECU in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 14.0 points and 10.7 rebounds a game. Rouse's rebounding total leads Conference USA. Sam Hinnant and Jeremy Ingram also average double-figures at 10.7 and 10.4 points a game, respectively.
Marshall leads the all-time series 3-2 after winning the two teams' first meeting earlier this season at the Henderson Center, 72-66, on February 1. The Herd is making its first trip to Greenville since the 1975-76 season; Marshall is 0-2 all-time at East Carolina. The Pirates will be the first C-USA opponent the Herd has played twice this season - Marshall's other conference home-and-home games are against UCF and UAB.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., and the game can be heard live on the ISP/Thundering Herd Radio Network or on the Internet at www.HerdZone.com.
