Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Memphis
Memphis Defeats Marshall Men's Basketball, 75-72
1/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.-Hassan Whiteside set a career-high with 22 points, while Damier Pitts tied a season-best tally of 18, but it wasn't enough as the Memphis Tigers escaped with a 75-72 victory against the Marshall men's basketball team on Jan. 27 inside the Cam Henderson Center. MU (15-5, 4-2 C-USA) dropped its third game in a row, while Memphis improved to 15-5 overall and 5-1 in league play. Whiteside scored his season high for points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor and added eight rebounds and seven blocked shots. Pitts made 5-of-9 attempts, including four three-pointers and dished out a game-high seven assists.
The Herd fell behind in the early goings of the contest, trailing 9-2 at the 16:48 mark. Antonio Haymon made a driving layup and later Pitts sank a trey from the wing to cut the deficit to two points, 9-7. The Tigers built their lead to 12 (27-15) thanks in part to four 3-pointers, a pair coming from off-guard Doneal Mack. The Marshall duo of Pitts (10 points) and Whiteside (9 points) were not enough in the first half as the Herd found themselves down 36-26 at intermission. In the opening half, Memphis made 6-of-11 shots from downtown and went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe to hold the double-digit halftime lead.
The Herd thundered out of the locker room on a 9-0 run, including a pair of baskets from Whiteside and Tyler Wilkerson to get within a point, 36-35, at the 17:36 mark. After Williams scored five-straight points for the Tigers, MU erupted for a 9-2 scoring rally, including an alley-oop dunk from Pitts to Shaquille Johnson. The basket put MU up for the first time in the second half, 44-43, at 15:09 and forced a timeout from Memphis. MU's Chris Lutz and Memphis' Roburt Sallie traded 3-pointers prior to Wilkerson making a layup, putting the game at 60-57 with 9:27 remaining, in favor of the Herd. The Tigers would regain the lead, using a 6-0 spurt, to own a 63-60 advantage. With 1:22 left in the game, Wilkerson sank a pair of free throws to give Marshall a 72-70 lead. Williams answered with a driving layup and later hit the back end of two free throws with 26 seconds left, to give Memphis a one-point advantage, 73-72.
After the Herd missed two free throws with 9.4 seconds left, Sallie was fouled right away. He drained both free throw attempts and forced the Thundering Herd into a deep three-pointer as time expired with a Memphis 75-72 victory. The Herd also received a 12-point effort from Wilkerson and 10 points from Johnson. The Memphis offense was led by Williams, who scored a game-high 24 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field. Sallie (12), Will Coleman (12) and Mack (10) each scored in double figures. The Tigers sank 20-of-22 (90.9 percent) free throws, while the Herd made just 16-of-26 (61.5 percent).
"It was a tough loss," Whiteside said. "Those are the ones that hurt the most."
"It was a tale of two halves," said Marshall head coach Donnie Jones. "If we played the way we did in the second half, we would have been in much better shape. Give Memphis credit, they found a way to win down the stretch. Free throws have hurt us the past couple of games. You have to be able to step up to the free throw line and make free throws. We had our opportunities to do that. But I am proud of our team in the second half, I thought we fought back. It would have been easy to tuck our head down 10 at halftime, and we didn't play well in the first half. Tyler Wilkerson picks up two quick fouls in the first half and it makes it tough to match up with the way they were matched up, playing with four perimeter players. But second half we made some adjustments and our kids came out and played with energy. I was disappointed with our energy in the first half. I thought we got caught up with the name on the front of the jersey saying Memphis instead of just playing. Second half we played the way we could play, so I am still proud of this team, but obviously I am not happy we didn't win. We have had three close games, and we have to start winning them to take that next step. We are going to continue to work, I know this team is hurting, but they are going to be there at the end. So we have to regroup and get ready for Houston."
MU will look to snap a three-game losing streak with a road trip to University of Houston on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS).
NOTES--Lutz tied his career high with eight rebounds...The 6-3 guard grabbed eight rebounds as a member of the Purdue basketball squad against Virginia Nov. 29, 2006...Johnson started with a dislocated left thumb which occurred during a Tuesday practice...Pitts tied his career high with four made three-pointers.
