Jan. 8, 2009

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Marshall at Memphis Game Book

MEMPHIS - Memphis led by only seven points at halftime but opened the second half with a 32-10 surge en route to an 80-57 victory over Marshall in the Conference USA men's basketball opener Wednesday at FedExForum.

The Tigers (11-3, 1-0 C-USA) received 10 and eight-point contributions after halftime from Tyreke Evans and Shawn Taggart, respectively, that put Memphis ahead comfortably after a tight opening 20 minutes. Marshall (7-7, 0-1) led by two points with under seven minutes remaining in the first half and trailed by just one point with 1:52 remaining before Memphis went on a half-ending 6-0 run to enter intermission up 35-28.

Memphis, the defending league champions, quickly built a double-digit lead three minutes into the second stanza and never let the Thundering Herd post a serious threat the remainder of the contest. The win gave the Tigers their 43rd straight win in C-USA play and moved their all-time record at FedExForum to 83-10.

Marshall senior guard/forward Markel Humphrey came off the bench to score a team-high 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting and a 6-for-7 night from the free-throw line. Wednesday marked Humphrey's first non-start of the season as he continues to battle a nagging foot injury. Forward Tyler Wilkerson and point guard Damier Pitts netted 11 points apiece for the Herd, with Wilkerson adding a team-high eight rebounds.

Wilkerson had a strong first half but quickly reached four fouls early in the second half which limited his minutes. Octavius Spann added seven points for the Herd while freshman Shaquille Johnson scored six points.

The Tigers shot 53.3 percent after halftime (47.5 percent for the game) while Marshall converted just 21.2 percent of its attempts from the floor in the second half for a season-worst 28.6 percent in the game.

Senior Antonio Anderson scored a game-high 17 points for the Tigers on 6-of-12 shooting. Roburt Sallie netted 13 points and was 3-for-5 from 3-point range. Robert Dozier, who posted 14.3 points and 9.4 rebounds in four career games versus Marshall entering Wednesday night, scored nine points with a game-high nine rebounds.

Johnson tallied Marshall's first field goal of the game with a one-handed putback dunk off a missed 3-pointer by Chris Lutz to give the Herd a 4-2 lead. The Tigers would score the next eight points to seize a six-point lead before the Herd netted three unanswered field goals to get back to a one-point deficit, 11-10.

Marshall grabbed a one-point advantage on a Wilkerson inside bucket and went up 17-13 when Spann drilled a 3-pointer from the corner, just his third career trey, with eight minutes left. With Marshall up 19-17, Memphis went on an 8-1 run, capped by an Anderson bucket plus a foul at the 4:03 mark for a 25-19 edge.

Spann hit a pair of free throws and a Darryl Merthie jumper in the lane put MU down 27-24, prompting a John Calipari timeout. Johnson jumped a Dozier pass for a steal at midcourt and took the ball to the goal to put MU down one point, 29-28, with just under two minutes remaining in the half.

That would be Marshall's final points of the half, however. Anderson scored the Tigers' final eight points of the half, including six unanswered three-point plays. Marshall had a chance to run the first-half clock down to two seconds to take the final shot of the half, but Johnson turned the ball over early in the possession. Anderson scored the final field goal of the half with three seconds left on a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Tigers a 35-28 lead at intermission.

Anderson's trey was reminiscent of the end of the first half of last year's meeting between the two schools in Huntington when a last second field goal sent UM into halftime up seven points. Up five, former Tiger point guard Derrick Rose sank an acrobatic reverse layup with two seconds remaining to put Memphis up seven points at the break.

The Herd matched its season-worst effort from 3-point range, going 3-for-17 from distance (17.6 percent), which equaled its total from its Nov. 22 loss versus UW Green Bay.

Marshall will return to the Cam Henderson Center on Saturday for its C-USA home opener versus East Carolina. Tip-off against the Pirates, to be televised on CBS College Sports, is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.