SMU Basketball Update: Achy-Breaky Redux

Marshall’s Last-Second Trey Breaks SMU’s Heart – Again

DALLAS – Wednesday, for the second time in three weeks, SMU lost a one-point thriller at home in the game’s final nanoseconds.

“It’s tough to lose another game like this, like the Tulsa game,” said SMU head coach Matt Doherty after Marshall (13-10, 5-5) topped the Mustangs, 75-74, with a long 3-pointer by Mark Dorris.

“It was tough shot,” said Marshall head coach Donnie Jones. “It was well-defended.”

“That was a just big-time play,” said SMU’s Derrick Roberts.

SMU head coach Matt Doherty, third from right, and the Mustangs had loud support from the student section Wednesday night. The SAEs, Tri-Delts and Pikes showed up in force.

SMU appeared to be on the verge of winning it third consecutive home game when Roberts drove from beyond the top of the key all the way to the hole to give SMU a 74-72 lead with 13 seconds left.

After getting the ball to mid-court and calling timeout, Marshall inbounded the ball with ten seconds left for a final shot.

Jones’ said the plan called for a look inside for two to tie, before going to Dorris. Dorris came off a double-screen with three seconds left and put up the fade-away winner from five feet beyond the arc.

SMU’s last-gasp inbounds pass with 0.5 seconds remaining was intercepted by freshman Tirrell Baines, who had already burned the Mustangs for 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Hot Roberts

SMU (8-14, 2-7) was led by Roberts, with 18 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the field. Jon Killen and Bamba Fall added 16 points each and Papa Dia paced SMU with four rebounds.

Killen had a game-high seven assists.

Other double-digit scorers for Marshall included Dorris (18), Markel Humphrey (12), and Darryl Merthie (10).

The Herd out-rebounded SMU, 31-17, and had 16 second-chance points. The 6-6, 210-pound Baines had five offensive boards.

“I think the difference in the game, obviously, was the rebounding” said Doherty. “They are very physical team, especially Baines. He’s a pretty darned good player.”

“Terrill Baines stepped up tonight,” said Jones. “He’s a mismatch guy. He’s not a power player. He’s able use his quickness and athleticism to get offensive rebounds, which is what he does.”

Baines averages 3.09 offensive rebounds per game, second in C-USA.

Doherty said he played 255-pound Paulius Ritter more - 13 minutes - to offset Marshall’s physicality. “I thought Paulius did a good job when he was in there,” he said.

“That’s where we need to improve. We’re not gonna put on 20 pounds on some of our guys, so we just have to try to work around that and get tougher.”

‘Great Game’

Both coaches began their post-game comments by calling the contest, which saw five ties and four lead changes, “a great college basketball game.” Marshall’s biggest lead of the game was two points; the Mustangs’, ten.

Derrick Roberts, right, gave SMU the lead with a driving lay-up with 13 seconds left but Marshall had the final word. From left to right is Papa Dia and Bamba Fall.

“SMU played a terrific game,” said Jones. “That is definitely a very good basketball team.”

“Tonight our team just found a way to make some plays down the stretch.”

Said Doherty, “I thought we really executed offensively at key moments.”

Fall looked especially poised in the game’s latter stages, maneuvering inside for four straight critical buckets. “Bamba, really, really, I thought, grew offensively,” Doherty said. “We were going to him and he was delivering.”

Said Fall, “We just executed and I got open. All I had to do, really, is just finish.”

The Mustangs led most of the first half and held a 31-21 edge six minutes before the intermission after Alex Malone sank three straight free throws. A Herd 17-7 stampede tied things up, 38-38, by the break.

SMU forged back ahead in the second half and led by six with four minutes left.

In the second half, Marshall was near-perfect from the line, hitting 12 of 13, while SMU also missed just one – on three attempts. For the game, the Mustangs sank 14 of 17 free throws to Marshall’s 18 of 23.

SMU hit 58 percent from 3-point range (10-17) to Marshall’s 43 percent (7-16).

Doherty said the Mustangs are a much better team now than when league play began. “I told them, I’m not gonna let them get down,” he said. “I get upset when we don’t compete and we don’t play with the energy, like the first half with Rice. But this game, … we invested emotionally, we competed, we made some big plays.”

“[Marshall] had to beat us. We didn’t beat ourselves.”

Roberts said he thought the Mustangs would recover quickly.

Next Two for SMU:

• Saturday, Feb. 16, at Houston, 7 p.m.

• Wednesday, Feb. 20, at Southern Miss, 7 p.m.

Quotable Doherty:

• On life-lessons from athletics: “There are a lot of people that are in the work force that have never gotten hit in the mouth. And when they do, they don’t know how to react. Through athletics, you learn that you’ve gotta fight back and get up and brush yourself off and go back to work.”

SMU Basketball Notes:

• Roberts said his migraine headaches still come and go. He sat out practice on Tuesday.

• SMU’s Killen ranks second in C-USA in assists (4.95/game) and fourth in steals (1.59/game).

• Fall’s field goal percentage (.607) ranks third in the league. He’s also third in blocked shots (2.23/game.)

• SMU’s 3-point shooting percentage (.348) is fourth-best in C-USA.

• SMU averages 2.68 more turnovers per game than its opponents, eleventh in the league. Its 9.59 offensive rebounds/game ranks last.