Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Tulsa
Marshall Men's Basketball Holds Off Tulsa, 64-58
2/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Hassan Whiteside poured in a team-high 17 points and Tyler Wilkerson tallied his 16th career double-double to lead the Marshall University men's basketball team past Tulsa, 64-58, in Conference USA action on Feb. 17 at the Cam Henderson Center.
Whiteside made 5-of-11 shots from the field, added nine rebounds and four blocked shots to his stat line. Wilkerson tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds, while Chris Lutz (15) and Damier Pitts (13) each scored in double figures to propel the Herd to 19-7 overall and 7-4 in conference play. Tulsa (19-7, 8-4 C-USA) received a 22-point performance from Ben Uzoh and 13 points and 15 rebounds from Jerome Jordan in the loss.
MU found itself trailing 7-6 at the 16:30 mark in the first half prior to Whiteside sparking an 11-2 run. Whiteside converted a 3-point play and later Pitts and Darryl Merthie would sink consecutive 3-pointers to put the Herd up 17-9 with 12:50 left. Later on in the half, Whiteside jump started a 6-2 spurt for the Herd when he rejected a Tulsa shot and on the ensuing fast break dunked an alley-oop pass from Pitts to ignite the 5,321 MU fans and own a 21-15 cushion.
The Golden Hurricane closed out the opening stanza on a 6-0 run to shrink the MU lead to 30-25 at intermission. Ozuh was the lone player in double figures heading into the locker with 10 points. Tulsa took its first lead of the game since the early minutes of the opening half, when Steven Idlet hit the back end of a pair of free throws, to hold a 42-41 advantage with 12:32 remaining. Uzoh continued to drive to the basket and made three-straight shots for the Golden Hurricane to extend its lead to 50-45 and force the Herd into a timeout with 8:06 left.
Pitts scooped a layup high off the glass just beyond the outstretched reach of Jordan to help the Herd retake the lead. After a layup from Uzoh, Lutz buried a trey from the wing and Whiteside made two shots at the charity stripe to give the Herd a four-point advantage, 58-54, with 2:08 left. The Herd sank 8-of-10 free throws in the final 51.8 seconds to preserve the 64-58 victory.
MU heads back on the road with a trip to New Orleans, La., to play Tulane on Saturday night at 8 p.m. (EST).
"It was a team victory for us tonight, but I also thought we had some good individual performances," Marshall head coach Donnie Jones said. "I thought Chris Lutz had a great stat line, but that wasn't what made the difference. I think he guarded the post, the man and anybody else's man that came off screens. He was a one man zone tonight."
"We got some great defensive stops down the stretch," Jones continued. "How to close out a game is what we have been learning from our losses. It was a big victory for our program, Tulsa is a great team and is very well coached."
NOTES Whiteside, a 59.7% free throw shooter, made 4-of-4 from the line in the final two minutes of the game...Whiteside is now 21-of-24 from the charity stripe in the final five minutes of games this season...Wilkerson's 16 double-doubles is the third most among active Conference USA players...Lutz has now scored 991 career points in his stints at both Purdue (freshman and sophomore) and at Marshall.
