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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. –  Many Marshall University fans lament the days of conference rivals like Miami, Ohio and Toledo or Furman, Appalachian State or UT-Chattanooga.

When the Herd joined Conference USA, it became the northern- most school in a southern league (the Southern Conference 1977-97) for the second time after two turns as the southern-most school in a northern league (the Mid-American Conference, 1953-68 and 1997-2005).

But one rival did move with the Herd from the MAC – UCF, who was a member of the league for football only. Marshall won three close games in a row and saw two coaches during that time for the then-Golden Knights as UCF moved to C-USA with the Herd.

No love lost in football still as the Knights have won five straight, and a league title, since the move. The Knights bring a bit of the “bad guys wear black” philosophy to every event, especially on the gridiron and the basketball court.

But if the rivalry wasn’t hot before Saturday night, it may be at a fever pitch after three overtimes were needed to finally get a winning team, the Thundering Herd.

7-foot freshman Hassan Whiteside recorded his third triple-double of the season, and second against the Knights of UCF, as Marshall University (22-7, 10-4 C-USA) defeated UCF (13-15, 5-9 C-USA) 121-115 in Conference USA men’s basketball action in the Cam Henderson Center.

Whiteside had a 14-point, 14-rebound and ten blocks game in Orlando, Fla. In UCF Arena in front of the second largest crowd in the Arena’s history.

Whiteside became the school’s career shot blocker, in just 29 games, as he had a new MU record for a single game with 13 blocks to go along with 14 points and 11 rebounds.  His other triple-double came against Brescia, the first in MU history with 17-points, 14-rebounds and ten blocks.

Hassan Whiteside hit his third triple-double against UCF.  One of his 13 blocks was this one against the Knights' P.J. Gaynor in the first half.

photo by Greg Perry/HI staff

Whiteside has blocked 159 shots in 29 games this season. That total is 16^th best all-time in NCAA Division I.  This was his third game with double-digit blocks.

The old Marshall record was 148 blocks by Omar Roland over two seasons, from 1988-90. “The Fly Swatter” seemed to be the best shot blocker of all-time at Marshall, but Whiteside has blown by him and the C-USA single season record of Tulsa’s 7-foot senior Jerome Jordan this season.

Marshall led at halftime 49-32, dominating the Knights in the first half. Marshall head coach Donnie Jones knew it would be a battle in the second half, but even he could not imagine the game going into three overtimes.

“UCF fought, being down 17 (at halftime) and they continued to hit big shot after big shot,” said Jones. “This is a night where the three-point line is so valuable and we have done a pretty good job guarding it, but they made some big shots.

Chris Lutz was on fire against UCF from the three-point line, hitting six-of-eleven, including this one over guard A.J. Rompza in the first half.

photo by Greg Perry/HI staff

Marshall held the Knights to just 3-of-10 from three in the first half.

“But we grinded this win out tonight. I am happy for the victory,” said Jones. “The crowd was phenomenal and gave our kids energy down the stretch. They sparked us down the stretch, gave us energy.

Jones was struggling for the right words to put the team’s 22^nd victory in context.

“What a great basketball game, it has got to be one of the great all-time games here in this building.”

Jones could not believe the effort right after the game where player after player entered the game and made the plays that helped the Herd to its first win in a three-overtime game.

Herd dropped a three OT game to Bowling Green in MAC play on Feb. 2, 1959, a 88-85 loss to the Falcons at the Veteran’s Memorial Field House – home of the Herd from 1950-81. A possible four-overtime game in Jan. of 1969 will need to be researched but numerous Herd fans indicated the game took place in Huntington.

Dago Pena was the star of the overtimes against UCF, hitting this basket over the Knights' Keith Clanton.

photo by Greg Perry/HI staff

The Thundering Herd led by 17 at halftime. The Knights mounted a comeback, but were held off by Marshall. At the 13:31 mark of the second half, UCF had cut the lead to six, 58-52, before the Herd ran it back out to a double-digit lead at 11:25, 64-52.

Back came UCF, pushing the Herd lead back to six just four minutes later, 68-62, only to see MU go back up ten, 73-63, with 4:27 to go on a Darryl Merthie steal and dunk.

UCF held the Herd with only one field goal after that, and the Herd only found itself able to make 8-of-16 down the stretch when MU could have iced the game at the line. The Knights finally cut the lead to one on an A.J. Rompza fall-away three, with15 seconds left.

It was Rompza’s only three (1-of-7) on a very poor shooting night for the UCF point guard, who only hit 2-of-15 in the game.

Isaac Sosa hit three three-pointers over the last three minutes, including another fall-away shot from three with two seconds remaining in regulation that tied the game at 79-79.

UCF never led in the first overtime but tied the game four times.Marshall took an 87-85 lead with 1:28 to go in the first overtime.

A.J. Tyler made a pair of free throw attempts to knot the game up 87-87.  Tyler fouled Tirrell Baines with 40 seconds remaining.

Baines missed both free throw attempts.  A Marcus Jordan turnover with six seconds left game the Herd a chance, but an MU turnover sent the game into a second overtime at 87-87..

UCF held a four-point lead on three separate occasions in the second overtime, and it appeared Marshall might have given a home win away.  With 20 seconds remaining and the Knights leading 99-96, Damier Pitts was fouled and made both attempts to cut the Knights lead to 99-98.

Back came UCF, as R.J. Scott hit a lay-up with 14 seconds to go and UCF was back up three, 101-98. With 11 seconds remaining, Marshall called a timeout.

Electing to go for the two and possible three-point play, Pitts drove the lane and was fouled.  An 81 free throw shooter, Pitts made his first attempt, but missed the second.

Flashing to the basket for the offensive rebound was the Herd’s Dago Pena. The sophomore grabbed the board and tied the game 101-101 with a stick-back.  Rompza’s field goal attempt with two seconds left fell short, sending the game into triple overtime.

The play was set up by Jones with the timeout with 11 seconds on the clock. “Biggest thing I tried to do with the team was to not take any threes, to keep driving the basketball,” said Jones. “There was plenty of time and we’re down three.

“We set up a free throw play. Dago ran the play, got a tip out of it and did a great job of getting it. He hit big free throws, some big shots. That’s what this team is about - it has guys that can do a lot of different things.”

Marshall opened the third overtime on a 10-3 run, capped off by a Pena dunk to put the Herd up 110-104 advantage. Pena had a three-pointer, a three-point play, grabbed to rebounds and hit 2-of-4 from the free throw line in the third OT.

UCF came back once more. R.J. Scott connected on a three-point field goal with 32 seconds remaining, following up on threes by Issac Sosa with 58 seconds left and by Taylor Young with 45 seconds to play. For Scott, it was only his fourth three of the year on 18 tries.

But MU got the ball into the hands of its best free throw players in that final 30 seconds. Pitts would make four free throws to push the lead back to six. A UCF lay-up was followed by two more Pitts at the free throw line to make the score 121-115 with 14 seconds left.

Another three try by Sosa (6-of-9 behind the arc) fell short and 7,803 Herd fans – second best crowd of the season and the 23^rd crowd of 5,000-plus to come for Herd basketball under Donnie Jones – and Marshall’s players and coaches celebrated a hard-fought win.

“I never thought I could play five guards so long. It was like a high school game out there, with five guards but everybody could switch off and make plays,” said Jones of sitting the big men some down the stretch.

“Still, we had Hassan in there with a mismatch and he made some great shots. I can’t even remember all of the big plays in the game.

Despite only shooting 64 percent from the line in making 43-of-67, Marshall broke the school and Conference USA records for most free throws made and attempted in a game.  The old Marshall record was 40-for-55 against Kent State Jan. 28, 1956 by the only Herd team to win the MAC.

“That’s unbelievable. I looked at the stat sheet, I think that’s why we got tired…we got tired of shooting them,” said Jones with his tongue right in his cheek.

But while Jones was happy about 100 percent free throw shooting in the overtimes (23-of-33, 69.7 percent) and 100 percent from the field (9-for-9 and 1-of-1 from three), he was worried about his team appearing to be tired after their return from playing Tulane and Rice.

“Our guys come off that trip (last week to New Orleans and Houston, six days on the road in a week),” said Jones. “I gave them a day off because I was worried about fatigue and those guys were able to come in and get defensive stops.

“They made just big shot after big shot, and you have got to find a way to finish. That’s what this team has been doing and I am proud of the effort.”

The old C-USA free throw attempts and made mark was by former C-USA, and current Big East member, Cincinnati going 42-of-58 against Louisville (another former C-USA member who is in the Big East) on Feb. 22, 2003.

The 121 Herd points is the most by a Conference USA team in a league game, and is also the ninth most points ever scored by the Herd in a game.  The old record was 117 set by USF against TCU on Jan. 5, 2002.

Senior Chris Lutz led all scorers with season’s best 25 points.  He was 6-of-11 from three-point range, playing 50 of possible 55 minutes. He started the game with 19 points in the first half.

Pena reset his career high with 20 points after scoring only five in the first half. The 6-6 wing player was 7-of-8 from the field, hit two of three from three, four of six at the line and had six rebounds and two assists.

Pitts was 15-of-18 from the free throw line (the third most made and third most attempted in school history) as he scored 19 points. He did not score in the first half and had only four points in regulation.

Junior Tirrell Baines, who played 30 minutes with Wilkerson fouling out, posted 15 points and six rebounds – four on the offensive end. Sophomore Shaquille Johnson had 13 points, seven rebounds, blocked a shot, played excellent defense and dished five assists – tied with Merthie in that category

UCF  had six players foul out of the game, but still saw five players score in double figures. Young led the way with 23 points, hitting 8-of-11 from the floor and 4-for-5 from three..

Keith Clanton and Sosa each tallied 20 while Marcus Jordan scored 18 after scoring 19 in the first game this year with Marshall. A.J Tyler had 12 points while Rompza made up for the awful shooting night by dishing out a game high 13 assists.

Marshall will have Senior Night for Chris Lutz, Darryl Merthie and Tyler Wilkerson, who will have a chance to go out in style with a big win over a ranked opponent  in their final regular season home game Tuesday against No. 25 UTEP, who beat Rice Saturday at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Tex.  Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. (EST).

“It’s going to be an incredible night, and hopefully an incredible game. They have the long flight in here (from El Paso, Texas) but our bench will have to be ready to play,” said Jones. “They played a lot of minutes tonight, so they can’t hang their heads when we call on them Tuesday.

“Let’s pack this place to honor these guys, who put this program back on the map. It will be a great tribute to what those guys have done. I can’t say enough about those guys.”

NOTES: It was the seventh win in a row by Marshall, after having earlier streaks of six wins and seven wins this season (as well as a five-game losing streak). Only Marshall and Duke have three streaks with at least six win in a row...

The Herd out-rebounded UCF by 50-to-40, possibly due to having Marshall Hall of Fame member Charlie Slack in from Massillon, Ohio with his wife, Alma. Slack still owns all the MU records for rebounds – 43 vs. Morris Harvey in 1954; 538 boards in a season, with a NCAA record of  25.6 rebounds per game still standing for the 1954-55 season; and 1,916 rebounds in his career, an average of 21.6 per game…

The 121 points scored by the Herd were the ninth most scored in a game by a Marshall team, and 236 points combined is the most since the Herd won in double overtime at Western Michigan, 127-126…UCF became the first MU opponent since 2002 (Morehead State won 101-100) to score at least 100 points against Marshall…This was the sixth time this season Marshall has scored at least 100 points, doing it only once last season and just twice back to 2002-03. The 1994-95 Herd team of Billy Donovan, current head coach of Florida, also had six games at 100 or more. The 121 points marks the 145th time the Herd have scored at least 100 points in a game...

Whiteside’s 13 blocks are a Henderson Center record, breaking his record of 11 which he set against Brescia back in Dec. Whiteside’s 159 blocks are the 16th most in a season by a Division I player…

Rompza played a game high 51 minutes before fouling out. He returned to the UCF line-up after serving a C-USA suspension for one game after a flagrant foul with seven seconds left in the loss to Southern Miss by the Knights. Eight players between the two teams saw at least 40 minutes of action, but six members of the Knights fouled out as well as the Herd’s Wilkerson…

Marshall’s 22 wins stands out for wins in a regular season for the Herd. Two Herd teams won 27 games in the regular season. The 1946-47 National Champions went on to 32 wins while the 1937-38 team advanced to the NAIB (today’s NAIA) Tournament after winning the Buckeye Conference. Huckabay’s 1987-88 team advanced to the NIT with a 23-6 regular season record and four other teams won 22 in the regular season: 1938-39’s Buckeye champs; 1971-72 under Carl Tacy, a team ranked as high as No. 8 before finishing 12^th in the nation after the NCAA Tournament; and Huck’s 1983-84 and 1986-87 teams, who both won the Southern Conference and advanced to the “Big Dance” as the NCAA Tournament is known.

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