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SPORTS
Baines returning to form
Marshall's Tirrell Baines guards Justin Wesley of Lamar during the NCAA men's basketball game on Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009, at the Cam Henderson Center.
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HUNTINGTON -- It's the Tirrell Baines of old, almost.
Baines was back in action Saturday night running, jumping and even 3-point shooting for the Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team one month after arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
The junior forward said Monday that his knee is about 90 percent healthy.
"I can't jump like I want, but I can feel the spring coming back," Baines said.
Marshall (16-7) steps away from Conference USA for a 7 p.m., Tuesday, non-conference game against NAIA foe Rio Grande (5-19) in Cam Henderson Center.
It could be a day for Marshall forward Tyler Wilkerson to rest his injured ankle, but Baines wants to continue his comeback. Baines basically missed seven games because of the knee injury and a problem with some medicine he was taking.
Baines said he received some encouragement from often-injured former teammate Markel Humphrey who is playing in Holland.
"He said to stay with it and come back strong," Baines said.
Baines didn't hurt his knee in any particular incident. The meniscus tear was the result of too much jumping, he said.
The reaction to antibiotics prevented Baines from eating properly because he couldn't keep anything down and resulted in a loss of 20 pounds. He even passed out one day at practice and spent one night in a hospital.
"It was pretty miserable," he said. "I couldn't sleep at night. I coudldn't sit in class."
Baines had surgery Jan. 6 and missed the next four games completely, including road trips to East Carolina and UCF that he watched on TV or followed on the internet. He played for three minutes against UAB, then sat out two more full games.
He played for 12 minutes Wednesday, Feb. 3, at Tulsa and was in the action for 16 minutes Saturday when Marshall smashed East Carolina, 100-49. He had 18 points, five rebounds and the first 3-point field goal of his career against the Pirates.
"It feels good to be back," said Baines, who is averaging 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game this season. "Day-by-day me knee is getting better.
"There's a lot of basketball left."
Marshall's 51-point whipping of East Carolina tied the C-USA record for largest margin of victory in a conference game. Back on Dec. 3, Marshall's 84-point beating of Salem International (119-35) set a C-USA mark for a non-conference game.
Head coach Donnie Jones said the lop-sided game Saturday was more the result of what Marshall did than what East Carolina didn't do.
"We played well, we played hard," Jones said. "We weren't forcing things. We were playing to execute."
The matchup with Rio Grande will hopefully provide an opportunity to get some players experience, Jones said.
Jones also wants the team to keep its focus on getting better and building on what it did Saturday. A victory over the Red Storm would also assure Marshall of a winning record for the season.
Wilkerson, whose playing status was listed as probable, leads the Herd in scoring (13.2) and is second in rebounds (6.7) behind freshman center Hassan Whiteside's 8.8 average. Whiteside also averages 13.0 points and and leads the nation with 5.3 blocked shots a game.
Herd guard Shaq Johnson is scoring 10.8 points per game.
Rio Grande has lost 12 consecutive games this season and is 0-13 in its series with Marshall. In two Mid-South Conference games against Brescia -- a team Marshall defeated by 51 on Dec. 16 -- the Red Storm lost by seven and one.
P.J. Rase, a Red Storm senior guard who played at Chesapeake High School, is averaging 17.1 points and shooting 45.4 percent on 3-point attempts (79 of 174). Rio Grande's 6-foot-6 Bud Teer and guard Doug Campbell are scoring 12.9 and 11.9 points respectively. Teer is also getting 9.4 rebounds per game.
Rio Grande head coach Ken French is a Huntington native.
