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The Thundering Herd blocked nine shots in the first half while limiting the Cardinals to 28.1 percent shooting (9-of-32) in the opening half.  The strong Herd defense led to a 41-25 MU advantage heading into the break.

But Lamar would score 49 points in the second half, as the Herd allowed the Cards to shoot 18-of-29 (46 percent) and 44 percent from three (4-of-9), much to the concern of Marshall head coach Donnie Jones.

“I am happy for the win. I am proud of the guys. It got close down the stretch,” said Jones. “We are still not a mature enough team to stay up big (plus 16 points at the half) and take it up from 20 to 25 or 30. That is something we have to work on and I hope we are in that position enough more often."

Marshall increased the lead to as much as 21 in the second half, but Lamar chipped away, closing to within 12 (75-63) on a Reggie Mathis three-pointer with 5:04 remaining.  On the ensuing Marshall possession, a steal by sophomore Damier Pitts and three-point play made it a 15-point game, stemming the Cardinals late run.

Anthony Miles, Lamar's point guard, hit a layup to get Lamar to back to within 13, but Pitts was fouled by Miles the next time down and his two free throws created a five-possession advantage at 80-65.  The Herd's point guard is now 40-of-42 at the free throw line in the final five minutes of games, and Pitts was 5-for-5 against Lamar.

The Herd got the ball back which led to junior Tirrell Baines being fouled.  The MU forward made both of his attempts to push the advantage to 82-65.  Marshall got the lead back up to 19 in the final portion of the game and push the Herd to 3-1 to start the 2009-2010 season.

Wilkerson led all scorers with 18 points, hitting 7-of-11 from the field to go with the seven blocks, three rebounds. Wilkerson played only 16 minutes in the game with foul trouble, but opened the game with three blocks in Lamar's second offensive set of the game.

“We jumped out on Lamar right away,” Wilkerson said.  “Everyone came out with energy and we were able to jump on them. We knew they could shoot the ball but we played good defense and took a lead.

"In the second half, we came out real lackadaisical, we looked up at the scoreboard. We have to work on finishing games, play the full 40 minutes but we got the win.”

Freshman 7-foot center Hassan Whiteside charted his first career double-double with 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.  Whiteside, a crowd favorite since the Thundering Herd Madness practice at the start of the season, added four blocks and a steal, hitting 7-of-10 from the field with six thunderous dunks.

Whiteside now has 14 blocks in his first four collegiate basketball games.

Pitts scored 14 points and dished out a game high seven assists. Shaquille Johnson scored 13 points, pulled down six rebounds, added a block and had three assists, hitting 3-of-4 behind the arc.

MU junior college transfer Antonio Haymon came off the bench to score five points and grab six rebounds. 6-foot-10 freshman Nigel Spikes had four points, an assist, a rebound and one block.

"But I am proud of the win. I thought we had some good performances," said Jones. "I though Hassan played well off the bench. Antonio Haymon, we got him to rebound tonight. We need him to continue that"

The Herd was once again playing short-handed, as the injury bug seems to have taken up residence in the Henderson Center.

"Cam Miller had a foot infection and that is why he didn’t play tonight," said Jones of the three-point specialist. "(Sophomore forward Dago) Pena has been having headaches. Hopefully we will have a chance to get him back in tomorrow.

"It was a good team win, Lamar is a good team. They have played some games on the road (four in a row) and they really showed some fight.”

For Lamar, Mathis (6-of-10 and 2-of-5 from three) and Justin Nabors (6-of-14 shooting, with nine rebounds) led the Cardinals as the duo each scored 16 points.  Miles added a double-double with 13 points, despite shooting just 4-of-14, and led Lamar with 11 rebounds.

The Cards' Kendrick Harris scored 12, hitting 2-of-5 from three, and Charlie Harper had seven rebounds and eight rebounds.

Marshall was beaten on the boards by the Cardinals, 46 to 39, and Lamar had 24 offensive rebounds.

"Obviously the rebounding is something we need to work on," said Jones. "To give up 24 offensive rebounds is way too many. That is something we will have a chance to work on and we have been working on it.

"Our guys have to understand the importance of boxing out and chasing balls. We haven’t done a great job with that.

However, Lamar coach Steve Roccaforte was impressed with the Thundering Herd.

"We have played Middle Tennessee, Texas A&M and Ohio," said Roccaforte, 15-15 in his first season in 2008-09 with the Cardinals, "and by far, (Marshall) is the better team. The guards are quick, they make shots and the big men, wow."

Marshall concludes the Global Sports Invitational Saturday when the Thundering Herd play 4-0 Ohio University in Charleston, W.Va. at the Charleston Civic Center.  The game could be considered the championship of the GSI, as both teams are 3-0 in tournament play.

Tickets, ranging from $10-25 are on sale now through Ticketmaster.com or at the Charleston Civic Center box office.   Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be on the Thundering Herd/ISP Network, including the Dawg 93.7 FM and SuperTalk 94.1 FM and AM 930 in Huntington.

It will be a doubleheader with the Thundering Herd football team, who is looking for the seventh win of the year at UTEP on Saturday. Football will kick off against the Miners at 3 p.m., and the basketball pre-game will begin from Charleston at 7:15 p.m.

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