Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Old Dominion
Marshall Falls To Old Dominion 70-62
11/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2009
NORFOLK, Va. -Defending CIT champion Old Dominion (4-0) handed Marshall (2-1) a 70-62 men's basketball defeat Nov. 21. The Thundering Herd scored the opening basket on a Darryl Merthie (Sr., Sanford, Fla.) layup off a steal and led for most of the early part of the game. A Gerald Lee layup tied the score 16-16 with 9:50 to go in the opening frame. A Marsharee Neely layup and a Ben Finney jumper gave ODU a four-point advantage.
Cam Miller (R-So., Wheelersburg, Ohio) connected on a three-pointer to make it 20-19 with 7:32 remaining. Old Dominion would outscore MU 8-2 over the remainder of thse half, taking a 28-21 advantage into halftime. Leading 38-28 with 16:33 left, the Monarchs used an 8-2 spurt to push the lead into double figures. ODU pushed the lead to as much as 16 down the stretch. Marshall outscored Old Dominion 11-3 in the final 56 seconds to make it the final 70-62.
Damier Pitts (So., Charlotte, N.C.) scored 12 of team high 14points in the second half. The 5-10 point guard went 6-of-8 from the field and also dished out a team high four assists. Tyler Wilkerson (Sr., Lexington, Ky.) tallied 12 points and seven rebounds, Lee, who is the nephew of former Marshall great Russell Lee scored 22 points. Old Dominion outrebounded Marshall 40-26, but turned the ball over 17 times compared to 13 for the Thundering Herd.
"Give ODU credit, they are a well coached team with a frontcourt as good as any we have played since we've been here," said Marshall head coach Donnie Jones. "It was a physical game, Tirrell (Baines) took a forearm to the chest and we couldn't really use him a lot in the second half. It was a good lesson for our young post players such as Hassan (Whiteside) and Nigel (Spikes). Even though we went down in the second half, we competed and fought hard. We will go back and take a look at the film. I think we will grow from this experience which is why we scheduled (Old Dominion) and I am excited for our team as we move forward."
"They made the tough shots," said Wilkerson. "We forced 17 turnovers, but we were outrebounded 40-26 and that was the difference. We will breakdown the tape, see what we did wrong, stick together as a team, and improve."
Marshall resumes action Wednesday night when the Thundering Herd host Lamar in game three of the Global Sports Invitational at the Cam Henderson Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
