Jan. 9, 2008

Box Score

Marshall at Rice Game Book

HOUSTON - Marshall opened Conference USA play in style, erupting in the second half to roll to a 66-47 win over Rice for its first road win of the season in men's basketball action at Reliant Arena on Wednesday.

Marshall (9-4), after a four-point halftime deficit, stormed out of the locker room on fire in the second half, hitting three 3-pointers in the first five minutes, including a Mark Dorris (Cincinnati, Ohio) trey that regained the lead for the Herd, 40-39 lead at 15:21. Getting the lead back gave Marshall a jolt of energy, as the momentum clearly was on the Herd's side. Tyler Wilkerson (Lexington, Ky.) felt the boost, scoring six out of the next eight Herd points. Wilkerson dunked home an alley-oop pass from Tirrell Baines (Laurens, S.C.) in transition, sending the Herd bench into a frenzy.

The highlight reel play gave Marshall a seven-point lead, 48-41 at 12:06, an edge that swelled to double digits minutes later. Guard Darryl Merthie (Lake Mary, Fla.) hit the first of two 3-pointers in a two-minute span while the Herd defense held Rice to only 10 points through the first 15:37 of the second half.

Marshall shot 50 percent from the floor after halftime, including a 5-for-8 (62.5 percent) mark from behind the arc. Rice (3-11), meanwhile, sank only 31.6 percent of its attempts in the second half after a 52 percent clip in the opening 20 minutes.

Dorris, a senior, scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 3-for-6 from 3-point range. He dished out a game-high six assists, which tied his career-best mark. Juniors Markel Humphrey (Atlanta, Ga.) and Darryl Merthie (Lake Mary, Fla.) along with freshman Matt Walls (Georgetown, Ky.) netted 10 points apiece. Baines pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and recorded six points and a career-high four steals.

Humphrey picked up a block and an assist, but the Herd's second-leading rebounder was held without a board for the first time since the fourth game of his freshman campaign.

Rice played without the services of senior forward Patrick Britton, the Owls' third-leading scorer, due to an injury. Senior Paulius Packevicius, junior Rodney Foster and freshman Suleiman Braimoh netted 10 points apiece to lead the Rice scorers.

"We didn't have the high level of intensity to start, but we took it to another level in the second half," Dorris said. "Give Rice credit, they played hard despite their injuries."

The teams combined for only 16 free throw attempts, with MU going 6-for-6 from the line.

Braimoh scored the game's first four points before Baines picked up his first offensive rebound with a put back to give MU its initial points of the contest. With the score tied at 8-8, Marshall went on a 6-0 run with four points from Dorris.

Sloppy ball-handling by the Herd and strong play on the boards by Rice over the next six-plus minutes allowed the Owls to storm back and seize a 19-18 lead with 7:10 left in the half. Football player turned basketball player Pierre Beasley muscled his way to six late first-half points during an MU scoring lull.

The Herd fell behind by nine points, 33-24, with 1:51 left in the half but netted the last five points to enter halftime down 33-39. MU's last five points included a nice dish and dunk from Humphrey to Jean Francois Bro Grebe (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) and a Matt Walls trey as time expired off a cross-court feed from Dorris.

The win snapped a five-game road losing streak for Marshall.

"To get a road win is great, especially after starting out flat like we did," first-year Marshall coach Donnie Jones said. "We did a good job of executing in the second half."

Wilkerson went 4-for-5 off the bench for eight points while fellow reserve Merthie added four rebounds, an assist and a steal.

Marshall, after opening its C-USA schedule on the road for the third straight season, returns home to face Memphis on Saturday at the Cam Henderson Center. Tip-off with the No. 2-ranked Tigers is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.