Herd Spoils Marshall's Return With 73-50 Win

    HUNTINGTON, WV–Coach Gregg Marshall’s return to Marshall University did not end the way he would have liked as his Winthrop Eagles became the 24^th consecutive non-conference opponent to lose in Cam Henderson Center over the last five seasons as the Thundering Herd won 73-50.

    For 23 minutes and 19 seconds Winthrop was in the game as the Eagles trimmed a 10-point halftime deficit to four points at 34-30 Roger Toxey converted two technical free throws after Marshall head coach Greg White was whistled for being out of the coaching box. Then suddenly The Herd caught fire to go on a 14-0 run to take a 48-30 lead with 11:05 left in the game. For all intents and purposes that was the game as Marshall built the advantage to as many as 25 in the final minute. Winthrop could get no closer than 15 at 55-40 with 6:28 remaining.

    Once again, Winthrop turned in a poor shooting performance before a regional television audience. The Eagles finished the game shooting an ice-cold 25 percent on 17 of 67 shots. Winthrop was 4 of 21 from behind the three-point arc. The Thundering Herd on the other hand shot a respectable 46 percent from the floor (26-57) and hit 9 of 25 from long distance. Credit Marshall’s defense for some of Winthrop’s shooting woes. White said his team played great defense and thought that Winthrop had problems recognizing his team’s changing defensive looks.

    "You could see the confusion out there for Winthrop when we would go back and forth from our man to."

    For Winthrop’s Marshall, he said he thought his team got some great looks at the basket and did not take many ill-advised shots. "I’ve got to go back to the drawing board and find a way for our team to put the ball in the basket. The Marshall zone was good, but we got shots inside and outside that we’ve got to make, but credit Marshall. They were the better team tonight."

    Derrick Knox, who began his career at Marshall four years ago before transferring to Winthrop, was the only Eagle to turn in a solid shooting performance. Knox connected on six of 12 shots and was perfect on four free throw attempts to lead the Eagles with 18 points. It was his second-best single game scoring effort behind 21 earlier this year at North Carolina.

    Winthrop took a 10-7 lead in the opening seven minutes of the game when Pierre Wooten scored on a driving layup, but that would be the Eagles largest and last lead of the game. Latece Williams drew The Herd to within a point on a powerful slam and then Joda Burgess, one of several Marshall players recruited by Marshall while an assistant coach in Huntington, came off the bench to nail three straight 3-pointers in as many trips down the floor and the lead was suddenly eight at 18-10.

    Marshall went to intermission with a 30-20 lead. Burgesss had 17 of his team’s points at the break. The former West Virginia high school player of the year, went on to hit four more treys to finish with a game-high 23 points. Former Kentucky Mr. Basketball J.R. VanHoose also made his presence felt in both halves. He scored four points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first half and added 10 more points and four rebounds in the final period as he became the 40^th player in Marshall history to reach 1,000 career points.

    Travis Young, another Marshall recruit while in Huntington, scored 16 points, including 13 in the second half.