Herd men beat Tennessee State

HUNTINGTON -- A rout was in progress.

Marshall took a 16-3 lead before Tennessee State made a field goal and led by 21 at halftime Sunday afternoon, the same halftime margin the Thundering Herd had in a season-opening 53-point blowout of WVU Tech.

Then they played the second half. Marshall (7-5) had a letdown while Tennessee State (3-8) picked it up and got within four points before the Herd men's basketball team closed the 2008 portion of its season with a 74-60 victory in Cam Henderson Center. A crowd of 4,491 attended.

"I am happy we won, but not very happy overall," Marshall head coach Donnie Jones said.

Tennessee State scored the first eight points of the second half to draw closer and trailed by only 51-47 on Gerald Robinson's 3-point basket with 8:49 remaining.

Marshall forward Markel Humphrey, whose playing status was uncertain because of a foot injury, followed with a basket inside and scored again on a feed from Tirrell Baines. Damier Pitts gunned in a 3-pointer that put Marshall back in front by double figures, 58-47, with 7:15 to go.

Humphrey played for 19 minutes with a bruised bone in his left foot.

The senior limped off the court in a Tuesday loss at Dayton and it was feared he had a recurrence of a stress fracture.

An MRI scan showed otherwise.

"The Christmas gift is it was a severe bone bruise," Jones said. "He just has to play with pain."

Baines led Marshall with 18 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the field and was 8-for-8 at the foul line. He added six rebounds and two blocked shots. Chris Lutz scored 17 and Damier Pitts tacked on 14.

The trio of Baines, Lutz (6-for-6) and Pitts (4-for-4) contributed to the Herd making 24 of its 25 free throw attempts.

Tennessee State, a 75 percent free throw shooting team, went 8-for-21.

"You can't miss a good scoring opportunity against a good team like Marshall," said Tigers head coach Cy Alexander.

An important sequence of the game occurred with Marshall leading, 33-16, in the first half, Alexander said.

Robinson (21 points) was fouled by the Herd's Adam Williams on a 3-point attempt. Robinson was making 81.8 percent of his free throws for the season. He made only one of three.

Marshall responded with the next six points on a shot from the lane by Baines and two layups by Dago Pena after Tennessee State turnovers to build its largest lead, 39-17, with 4:14 left in the half.

Jones is a firm believer that a team plays like it practices. He said the first half was OK, but the way Marshall played in the second half was exactly the way the Herd practiced for two days after a Christmas break.

"We didn't deserve to win big because we haven't practiced well enough," Jones said. "But, we did find a way to win."

Tennessee State, coming off a 44-point defeat at Kentucky, was still hanging around at 66-60 when Darius Cox caught an offensive rebound and scored with 2:14 to go.

Lutz scored on a drive and Marshall closed the day with six foul shots.

It was the sixth straight road game for the Tigers.

Adam Williams made his third career start for Marshall because he earned it, Jones said.

Herd center Marcus Goode didn't play and will have an MRI scan for a knee injury. Shaq Johnson has a sprained ankle and missed his first start of the season.