2007 C-USA Basketball Tournament Recap: #1 Memphis 92 - #8 Marshall 71

Tigers win their 20th consecutive game in routing Thundering Herd

Memphis was able to walk into the semifinals after playing a phenomenal first half with an intensity of a team who was not previously assured of a NCAA Tournament berth. The No. 5 Tigers dominated Marshall, 92-71, on Thursday in Conference USA Quarterfinal action at the FedExForum in Memphis.

Marshall was able to get on the board first with a dish inside to Markell Humphrey for a lay-up. He would knock down a three next time down the court to put the Herd up 5-3.

Early on in this contest Joey Dorsey, who finished with 14 points, did not get into foul trouble as he has often this season. Instead, he was fouled three times in the first five minutes.

Despite the fouls and turnovers, Marshall was able to remain close, as the game was tied at seven as the game went into the first media timeout.

Dorris gave the Herd the lead back after a hard pass knocked off one Marshall player into his hands before he drained a three to put the Herd up, 12-11.

Memphis went on an 8-0 run that featured a dunk by Dorsey and a fast break lay-up by Jeremy Hunt to extend the lead to 20-12.

Marshall had a difficult time handling the Tigers’ full court pressure on offense and could not answer Memphis’ high powered offense as the turnovers kept coming from Marshall and Memphis was there to take advantage.

Marshall ’s field goal drought lasted four minutes until a lay-up by Humphrey and a deep three by Tre Whitted cut the Tigers lead to three with nine minutes to play in the first stanza. Andre Allen and Doneal Mack would not allow Marshall to get any closer as Allen and Mack knocked down threes to give Memphis it’s largest lead of the game with a fifteen point advantage.

From that point on, Memphis was able to roll into the locker room up 21 over Marshall after it put together an impressive twenty minutes of basketball to seal up the victory in the first half as they were able to take advantage of Marshall’s 17 turnovers.

Memphis started the second half strongly, as it began with a dunk by Antonio Anderson. However, Marshall came out shooting well also and closed Memphis’ once 26-point lead down to 13 after an 11-3 run was capped off by a Markel Humphrey trifecta with just under 16 minutes to play.

Of course Memphis was not going to let Marshall back into the contest and scored five quick points to put Memphis to a comfortable 18-point lead again.

The Herd would never make it a contest the rest of the way, as Memphis was able to cruise into the semifinals with a 92-71 victory on their home court.

Marshall ’s season, which was highlighted by a victory over Virginia Tech, has come to a close. The Herd finish the season with a 13-18 record and the status of coach Ron Jirsa is still unclear.

Memphis will now play fourth-seeded Tulane on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. (CT). The Tigers tore the Green Wave to pieces in the teams only meeting, garnering a decisive 95-51 triumph.