Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Mississippi
Ole Miss Comes Back to Defeat Herd Men, 82-78
11/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2008
Marshall vs Mississippi Game Book 
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Marshall University men's basketball team, participating in its third Glenn Wilkes Classic contest in three days, played its best game of the event on Sunday and led Mississippi for much of the second half but could not put away the Rebels in dropping an 82-78 decision at the Ocean Center.
The Thundering Herd (1-3) dominated the boards to the tune of a 43-31 advantage, but 11 second-half turnovers and an 8-for-27 (29.6 pct.) mark from the floor after halftime ultimately did in Marshall. In fact, Marshall sank just three field goals in the final 11 minutes of the game while Mississippi (3-1) shot 52.2 percent from the field in the second half.
Mississippi, which was idle on Saturday while Marshall fell to Wis.-Green Bay, trailed 46-42 at intermission and did not take the lead until a David Huertas 3-pointer with 1:58 remaining in a highly-competitive second half. Huertas' trey put the Rebels ahead for good, but MU freshman Shaquille Johnson (Jacksonville, Fla.) hit a long 3-pointer with five seconds left to close MU's deficit to two points, 80-78.
However, Ole Miss sophomore guard Chris Warren was fouled and nailed both of his free throws to give the Rebels the decisive 82-78 margin. Warren was a thorn in the Herd's side all night, especially in the second half where he scored 16 of his game-high 28 points. Warren recorded seven points, two steals and an assist in the game's final two-and-a-half minutes. He stripped Herd freshman Damier Pitts (Charlotte, N.C.) at mid-court and sped to the bucket for a lay-in to give Ole Miss a 77-74 lead with 43 seconds left.
"We're getting better as a team," Johnson said. "We just need to execute at the end of games. We'll watch the film and learn from our mistakes and get better."
Two Tyler Wilkerson (Lexington, Ky.) free throws with 2:46 remaining gave the Herd a 72-70 lead before Warren, a 2008 All-SEC Freshman Team selection, took over the game. His two late steals were huge momentum swings for the Rebels, who rebounded from a loss to Utah on Friday.
The approximately 100 Marshall fans in attendance got to see a glimpse of what sophomore center Marcus Goode (Chapin, S.C.) brings to the program. Playing in his first season of collegiate basketball, Goode, who had played only two minutes in the previous two Glenn Wilkes Classic contests, made his presence felt immediately upon entering the game early in the first half. He scored back-to-back field goals, one off an offensive rebound, and then promptly blocked an Ole Miss shot.
Minutes later the 6-foot-10 Goode hit an 18-footer to tie the game at 14-14. For the game, he scored 14 points on 7-of-7 shooting with six rebounds and three blocks in just 15 minutes.
Herd senior guard/forward Markel Humphrey (Atlanta, Ga.) nailed a jumper from the wing at the first-half buzzer to give Marshall a four-point lead at halftime.
Humphrey netted 11 points in the game and fell one rebounds shy of a double-double. Wilkerson did post a double-double, MU's first of the season, with a 12-point, 14-rebound effort. The junior forward's 14 boards are just one shy of his career-high. Johnson scored a team-high 15 points for MU and went 8-for-10 from the free-throw line, helping Marshall to a 25-for-30 night from the charity stripe - a far cry from its sub-64 percent free-throw shooting in the previous two games.
Huertas, a transfer from Florida who played under MU head coach Donnie Jones, netted 21 points for Ole Miss.
"I'm proud of our guys," Jones said. "We can't accept a moral victory, but we showed that we are a resilient bunch. We played with great energy. We showed our depth and our bench played well and that gives us confidence in playing them.
"We have to learn how to fight and make plays down the stretch. We turned the ball over down the stretch and you can't do that against a team like Ole Miss."
MU is in the midst of a three-game losing streak, its longest such streak since a three-game skid in January of 2007.
The Herd will return to action on Saturday when it plays host to Old Dominion. Tip-off is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Cam Henderson Center.
