Marshall Basketball Recap: Herd rally against Bowling Green falls short

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this season to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA sports coverage. Today, our new Marshall Correspondent Paul Wood brings the latest update on the Marshall Thundering Herd basketball team.

Marshall failed to contain Bowling Green’s leading scorer, Martin Samarco. Samarco led the Falcons with a game high 24 points in the 79-78 win. Nate Miller added 19 points and 10 rebounds in support of the MAC’s leading scorer. Bowling Green improved to 7-3 on the season. The Thundering Herd falls to 3-8.

The game looked to be headed in the Herd’s favor, leading 36-34 at the half. However, the Falcons used a 15-0 run midway through the second half to make the hill just to steep to climb for the Herd. Marshall rallied late and had a chance to win, but Mark Dorris’ last second shot rattled off the iron as time expired.

Dorris led the Herd with 22 points. Senior guard Travis Aikens added 19. Marshall’s leading scorer, Markel Humphrey was held to 11 points. Point guard Chris Ross dished out 7 assists in the losing effort.

The schedule does not get any easier for the Herd with games against Virginia Tech and George Washington. Sandwiched between those two games is a rematch with Ohio University. Marshall lost to the Bobcats back on December 2 nd.

The Herd has been close in several contests this year. Other than blowout losses at Memphis and Princeton, the Herd has been in every game. Five of Marshall’s losses have been by four points or less.