Jan. 21, 2007

Final Stats

Marshall-Tulane Gamebook
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NEW ORLEANS, La. - Marshall sophomore Markel Humphrey (Ellenwood, Ga.) led four Marshall players in double figures with 20 points in a 79-73 win over Tulane Saturday evening at Fogelman Arena in New Orleans.

With the win, MU improves to 7-11, 2-3 in Conference USA, while the Green Wave drops to 8-8, 1-3 in the league.

The Herd led by as many as 15 in the game, but the Green Wave mustered a comeback in the second half, and held a seven point lead of its own, 55-48, with 10:55 to play. The Tulane reemergence came after Marshall took a commanding lead in the first half, firing in 61.5% of its shots and 66.7% of its shots from beyond the arc. The Herd led by 13, 39-26 at the break, and saw its biggest lead of the game 30 seconds into the second period.

After Tulane went up seven, Marshall regained its poise and got itself back into the game, outscoring the Green Wave, 11-5, to cut the lead to one, 60-59, with 7:10 to go. MU retook the lead on its next possession on a Chris Ross (San Antonio, Texas) layup to make the score, 61-60. Over the next four minutes, the game had four ties and two lead changes, and with 2:29 to go, the game was tied at 69 on a Tulane layup by Donnie Stith.

On the Herd's next possession, Chris Ross made one of two free throws to make the score 70-69, but Humphrey was there for the offensive rebound, giving Marshall another opportunity. MU took full advantage of the second chance when Tre Whitted (Wilmington, N.C.) knocked in a three from the right elbow to make the score 73-69.

"We had good execution on that last Tre Whitted three," said Marshall head coach Ron Jirsa. We moved the screen down a little lower in the lane to give Chris (Ross) a better angle, and Tre made a tough shot over an outstretched hand."

After a Stith dunk on the other end, Whitted was at it again, this time with a fade away hook shot in the lane after a Jean Francois Bro Grebe (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) miss as the shot clock expired, a make which once again pushed the Herd lead to four, 75-71. Stith made another layup to make the score 75-73, but Humphrey pushed the lead back to four on two made free throws with 26 seconds left. It was as close as the Green Wave would get, as Marshall knocked down some clutch free throws to keep Tulane at bay.

"Tre Whitted is a big shot guy," said Jirsa. "I was glad to see that hook shot go in. You need a break on the road, and we got one.

"We didn't have a lot of poise during that Tulane run, and we had to slow it down a little bit," said Jirsa. "We were playing too fast and we had to settle down, and we did that. We had some good drives to the basket, and Markel Humphrey just put us on his shoulders tonight. We had some great interior passing under pressure, and although it looked like it was coming apart, we kept it together and actually got stronger.

Humphrey led all scorers with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Mark Dorris (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Travis Aikens (Orlando, Fla.) each added 13 points, and Whitted chipped in ten for the Herd in the winning effort.

For Tulane, Chris Moore led the way with 18 points. Stith chipped in 16 points, with 14 of those coming in the second half.

Marshall will play its last non-conference game of the season Wednesday night in the Herd's annual game with intrastate rival West Virginia in Charleston, W.Va. Tip off for the men's game is set for 8 p.m. EST.