Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Hosts St. Bonaventure Saturday Afternoon
1/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 1, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.--Marshall University hosts St. Bonaventure in men's basketball action Saturday afternoon in the Cam Henderson Center. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
Marshall hosts St. Bonaventure in the fourth ever meeting between the two schools. Playing for the first time since the 1958-59 season, the Bonnies lead the all-time series 2-1. All three games were played in Buffalo, N.Y. either at St. Bonaventure or as part of a tournament in Buffalo.
The Bonnies are coming off a 82-75 victory over cross-town rival Canisius Wednesday night in which five players scored in double figures. Jonathan Hall, who is second on St. Bonaventure squad in scoring (12.3), led SBU with 20 points against the Griffins. Andrew Nicholson is the Bonnies' leading scorer (16.2) and leading rebounder (7.2). Against Canisius, Nicholson scored 14 points and had seven rebounds.
Shaquille Johnson's (So., Jacksonville, Fla.) layup with 16 seconds remaining helped lead Marshall University to 78-75 victory over Troy University Dec. 28 at the Trojan Arena. The Trojans' Yamene Coleman scored nine points as Troy opened the game by outscoring the Herd 19-7 in the first 6:48 of the contest. The Trojans made eight of their first 10 field goal attempts as MU committed seven turnovers during the opening span.
Troy continued their hot shooting, making 11-of-17 attempts to take a 26-15 into the third media timeout of the first half. Marshall mounted their first run of the game, a 14-4 spurt that was capped off by a Damier Pitts (So., Charlotte, N.C.) three-point field goal that got the Herd to 31-29. A Coleman dunk created a four-point advantage at 4:29. A pair of Antonio Haymon (Jr., Washington, D.C.) free throws 25 seconds later again made it a two-point game at 33-31. Marshall tied the game for the first time with 3:18 to go in the first half when Hassan Whiteside (Fr., Gastonia, N.C.) put back a Tyler Wilkerson (Sr., Lexington, Ky.) miss. A Pitts three-pointer at the 2:25 mark gave MU the lead for the first time at 36-33. The game was two more times. With MU leading 41-40, Brandon Hazzard was fouled. He made 1-of-2 to the score at 41 with 38 seconds left in the opening frame. The game remained tied heading into the halftime break. Troy's biggest lead of the game, 14 points came with 13:09 remaining in the first half.
The teams exchanged turnovers on their ensuing possessions, before a Whiteside jumper gave MU a 70-66 lead with 5:24 to go. A Dago Pena (So., Punta Gorda, Fla.) put-back gave the Herd a six-point lead a little under a minute later. Richard Delk's basket at 3:45 was the first for the Trojans in almost seven minutes and gave the Herd a 72-68 advantage. Antywan Jones made 1-of-2 free throws with a little over three minutes to play made it a one-possession game. Jones' layup with 2:48 got Troy to within one. A Herd turnover the next time down led to a Delk field goal 30 seconds later and a Trojans' 73-72 lead. Whiteside put the Herd back into the lead with a put-back at 1:54. A Marshall foul put Michael Vogler at the free throw line for a 1-n-1 with 89 ticks left. Vogler made both to put Troy back up 75-74.
The teams exchanged turnovers, with Marshall ending up with the ball and 1:06 to play. Pitts missed on a three-point attempt with 33 seconds remaining. A MU foul put Coleman at the line for a 1-n-1, but he missed. Whiteside got the rebound. Johnson's layup put the Herd ahead with 16 seconds remaining. Wilkerson fouled Coleman in the act of shooting a short jumper, putting Coleman at the line for two free throws. Coleman's first attempt was no good. The 6-9 center's second attempt was no good and Wilkerson got the rebound. Wilkerson was fouled by Jones on the rebound, but it was only the sixth Troy foul.
Chris Lutz (R-Sr., Bedford, N.H.) was fouled with 1.7 seconds remaining. The 6-3 guard went to the line for a 1-n-1 attempt. Lutz made the first one. Lutz's second attempt was also good. Troy called timeout but Volger's half-court heave was no good, giving the Herd the victory. Whiteside recorded his sixth double-double of the year with 18 points and 16 rebounds. Wilkerson charted his second double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 boards. Pitts scored 11 while Lutz had 10.
Marshall off to the program's best start since the 1999-00 season when the Thundering Herd opened the year by winning the first 10 games of the season. Marshall went 21-9 during the 1999-00 campaign.
