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Hassan Whiteside hit 14 points, grabbed 17 rebounds, and had nine blocked shots against Ohio.  photo by Greg Perry/HI staff

MU’s 7-foot freshman center, Hassan Whiteside, was one block short of a triple-double against the ‘Cats. He scored 14 points, on 7-of-11 shooting, pulled down 17 rebounds and blocked nine shots by Ohio (4-1), his second double-double in the last two games.

The nine blocks tied a school record shared by Omar Roland in 1990, against UTC, and Latece Williams in 2000, versus the University of Charleston. This was certainly the best opposition in the three nine-block efforts, as the Bobcats entered the game 4-0.

It was the second-straight game with a block career-best, as senior forward Tyler Wilkerson blocked seven shots against Lamar on Wednesday.

Wilkerson, who scored ten points with seven rebounds and a block and steal, said the key was coming into the game with emotion.

“We just came out for the game today real excited, real hyped,” said Wilkerson. “Coach got us real riled up in the locker room before the game. We came out and played good defense and rebounded, because that’s what coach said would win the game.

“Ohio has been out-rebounding teams by 16 rebounds per game. We boxed out hard tonight, and Hassan had 17 rebounds himself. It was all about rebounding and playing good defense.”

Ohio was averaging 48.8 rebounds per game, a plus-15.8 rebounds per game coming into the contest.

Shaquille Johnson scored 9 points in the win over Ohio.

photo by Greg Perry/HI staff

Jones was also pleased with the frosh’s effort, especially with Wilkerson and Tirrell Baines playing with four fouls down the stretch inside.

“The most important thing with Hassan is he could get 20 rebounds a game if he just stayed in position instead of jumping to block every shot,” said Jones. “He only did that one time tonight.

“He had Ohio off balance tonight, instead of him being off balance.” Whiteside has now blocked 23 shots in just five games at Marshall, coming to the Herd from The Patterson School, a prep school in North Carolina, as did Baines and DeAndre Kane, who has been cleared to practice but as of tonight not to play in games by the NCAA Clearing House.

“I am really proud of this team because we have been preaching rebounds and defense,” said Jones of the rebounding and defensive effort. “We have run drills and worked on this all week, because in the last game we were out-rebounded by Lamar.

“We hold this team to 30 percent from the field, 23 percent at the three-point line. That’s why we won the game.”

A Thanksgiving weekend crowd of only 2,515 showed up, with about 2,000 wearing the Marshall kelly green versus the Ohio crowd in its hunter green.

But what the crowd lacked in numbers, it made up for in intensity. Intense Ohio and Marshall fans watched, yelled and cheered a defensive effort by the Herd that held the Bobcats, averaging 86.5 points per game, to just 21 points in the first half.

Jones told his team in the locker room defense and rebounding would carry the day.

“It was huge. It started with our press against a very, very good offense team,” said Jones. “That was the best offensive team we have seen we played against so far.

“Our press made them speed up, the shot clock was running down and they were forcing up shots. I think that defense won us the game tonight.”

OU only hit on 22.6 percent in the first half, and the Herd’s defense forced the Bobcats to settle for 15 three-points in the half. But Ohio would make only two of that 15.

“What we learned from ODU game was, obviously, how to play on the road and how to get better defensively,” said Jones. “We really took them out of their rhythm tonight.”

Also coming up big for Marshall was sophomore guard Shaq Johnson who scored nine points with three rebounds and led the Herd with two steals, tied with senior Chris Lutz, and four steals.

6-foot-10 freshman Nigel Spikes had four points, hitting 2-for-2 from the floor and playing nine minutes, most since hurting his knee. Spikes also had an assist and a steal. Darryl Merthie had nine points, three rebounds and an assist and steal. Damier Pitts had seven points, four rebounds with an assist and steal, but had two turnovers late, and the Herd’s turnovers in the second half (ten) almost opened the door for an Ohio comeback.

Marshall and Ohio tied three times and traded the lead five times in the first 12 minutes of the game before the Herd’s pressure gave Marshall a needed boost. The Herd led 34-21, a 13-point lead at the half.

Three minutes into the second half, a Johnson three put MU up by its biggest margin of 14, 37-23, but Ohio answered with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to seven. The Herd would move the lead back to 13 points, 47-34, with 11:46 to play but then the Marshall shooters went cold.

MU would not score a point until the seven-minute mark, and by then Ohio had cut the lead down to four, 47-43, on a Tommy Freeman’s three-pointer. Freeman hit 4-of-8, all from three, and scored 16 points for Ohio to lead all scorers.

The Herd answered with a Whiteside hook shot to go up again by six, but Ohio did not back down. With 1:20 left, OU’s D.J. Cooper hit a three to cut the lead to four again, 55-51, but then Pitts was fouled by Ohio’s Kenneth van Kemper and was sent to the line as the Ohio center fouled out.

Pitts came in missing just two free throws in his career in the final five minutes of the game (40-of-42), but missed the front end of a one-plus-one, but Whiteside would block his ninth shot off the hands of Armon Bassett and Pitts was fouled by Bassett and sent once again to the line.

This time, Pitts nailed 2-of-2 and, with Wilkerson hitting 3-of-4 free throws in the final 17 seconds, Marshall would hold on for the win, 60-53.

“We had Darryl and Damier make some key mistakes down the stretch, and those guys will be in those positions again,” said Jones of lessons learned in the win.

“Biggest thing with those guys is they make free throws. I know Damier missed one tonight, but we needed him down the stretch.”

Jones also thinks the series with Ohio is an important games for both teams.

“It is always a great rivalry, as you know. 95^th game, first time on a neutral site, and we appreciated the Marshall fans come out tonight. With the holidays, it was a good crowd and we feed off them.

“I hope our fans will come out and support these young kids, they really feed off the Herd fans. We always have good crowds, but are looking forward to the days of drawing 6-7-8,000 in the Henderson Center.”

Wilkerson agreed with his coach, and encouraged fans to be part of the winning, with four of the next five games at home, starting with Salem International (Dec. 3), a game that could be the 300^th win at the Cam Henderson Center since the Herd opened the building with a win over Army in 1981.

“We came out early with a lot of energy early this season, with a lot of young guys, and we want to keep playing with that energy throughout the season,” said Wilkerson, one of only three seniors on this year’s team.

The second Donnie Jones Call-In Show of the year will be on Tuesday, Dec.1, at Gino’s Pub in Huntington, due to the Thursday meeting with the green-and-white Tigers of Salem. It can be heard, along with all MU men’s games, on the Thundering Herd/ISP Sports Network including flagship stations 93.7 FM, The Dawg, and SuperTalk 94.1 FM and AM 930, at 7:05 p.m. this Tuesday, then Thursday Dec. 10 and 17 before a break for the holidays.

The Salem game is also a “Coat Drive,” sponsored by the Student-Athlete Advisory Board, who are asking fans to bring a coat or jacket they no longer need to help those in need during the winter season.