Marshall Basketball Recap: Marshall loses huge lead, falls to GW, 74-65

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 Marshall Correspondent Paul Wood brings the latest update on the Marshall Thundering Herd basketball team.

Marshall was unable to hold onto a 17-point halftime lead at George Washington and after leading by as many as 21 in the first half (40-19) the Herd fell 74-65 to the Colonials in our nation’s capital on Saturday. MU squandered a dominant first half performance, falling to 5-9 on the season. GW improved to 10-4 with the win.

The Herd started out the game on fire from behind the arch, hitting 7 of 13 three’s in the first half. However, they were only able to hit one of 12 from long range in the second half.

Markel Humphrey and Travis Aikens both scored 12 first half points. Humphrey finished with 20 for the game to go along with six rebounds. Aikens failed to score in the second half. Tre Whitted was the only other Herd player to reach double digits with 11 points.

GW started the second half on a 23-6 run, tying the game at 48-48. The Colonials shot 59% for the second half versus the Herd’s 24% effort.

The Colonials were led by their leading scorer, guard Maureece Rice (15.8 ppg), who matched a season high with 23 points. Rice also added a game high 10 rebounds. Forward Rob Diggs contributed 15 points, 6 boards, and 3 blocks in the home win.

The Herd continues its inconsistent play. Point guard Chris Ross had a solid first half, but was unable to put anything together after the break. Guard Darryl Merthie was unable to step up in the second half in relief of a struggling Ross. Merthie was 1-of-8 from the floor, including 0-of-3 from deep.

Marshall now turns its focus to its conference schedule, which will begin with a January 10 th trip to UTEP. Ron Jirsa and company hope to find some consistency, pull things together and make a strong showing in CUSA.