Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
West Virginia
WVU Slips Past Herd Men, 66-64
1/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2008
West Virginia vs. Marshall Game Book 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Mark Dorris led Marshall with 20 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season but it wasn't enough as the Thundering Herd men's basketball team dropped a 66-64 thriller to West Virginia in men's basketball action at the Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic on Wednesday.
Trailing by double digits for nearly the entire the game, Marshall rallied late in the game as guard Matt Walls hit a 3-pointer to cut the margin of deficit to just three points with four minutes remaining. Freshman Tirrell Baines followed up a Walls trey with just over a minute to go to cut the Mountaineer lead to two at the 1:30 mark.
After a 1-for-3 stretch from the free-throw line by WVU, the Herd took control of the ball and called timeout. Darryl Merthie was fouled on his 3- point attempt and buried all three attempts to even the score at 64-64 with just 32 seconds remaining.
WVU forward Da'Sean Butler came back down the floor and hit a game-winning jumper in the lane with 5.6 seconds remaining. Merthie took the inbound pass down the sideline but was stripped as he tried to moved toward 3-point range as time expired.
Merthie scored 15 of his 20 points after halftime and went 9-for-14 from the free-throw line. He exceeded his career-high for free throw attempts in the second half alone by going to the line 13 times.
Marshall struggled from the field early and the Mountaineers jumped out to a 37-27 lead at the half behind 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range. WVU guard Alex Ruoff was 3-of-5 shooting in the first half and was one of four Mountaineers in double figures, finishing the game with 11 points. Ruoff was named the Capital Classic MVP for West Virginia.
"It was a good game," Marshall head coach Donnie Jones said. "There were some tough plays down the stretch. (West Virginia) made the shot they needed to make.
"I'm proud of the way our team fought. We were already missing some people injury-wise and then Dorris fouled out. Our team fought and scraped and I'm really proud of our guys."
The Herd was without leading scorer Markel Humphrey for the second consecutive game (stress fracture in foot).
Both teams found themselves in foul trouble late in regulation and five players fouled out in all. Dorris, MU's Capital Classic MVP, left the game with 5:37 remaining in the game as did the Mountaineers' Wellington Smith just seconds later. Tyler Wilkerson also fouled out with just over four minutes to play and Joe Alexander fouled out with 1:29 left.
Baines netted five points with seven rebounds, while fellow freshman Walls finished with seven points, two assists and two steals.
Neither team shot particularly well from the free-throw line as MU shot just 63.6 percent from the stripe (21-for-33) and WVU went 11-for-28 (39.3 percent).
Marshall will travel to Houston to face the Cougars on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
