Mountaineers drop Herd in emotional win - WOWK 13 Charleston, Huntington WV News, Weather, Sports

Mountaineers drop Herd in emotional win

Posted: Updated:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Junior guard D.D. Scarver led Marshall with 17 points, but the Thundering Herd fell to in-state rival West Virginia 69-59 in the Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic Wednesday in Charleston.

The Mountaineers improved to 3-3 while the Herd fell to 5-4 in front of an announced attendance of 11,512.

Scarver was one of three Marshall players to score in double-figures as he was 4-of-8 from three-point range. Junior forward Elijah Pittman also hit four three pointers on seven attempts for 16 points. Junior guard DeAndre Kane had 13 points and a game-high seven assists. He was named the Eddie Barrett Most Outstanding Player for Marshall.

Both teams shot a similar percentage from the field as West Virginia finished at 37.3 percent and Marshall shot 36.3 percent. Perhaps the biggest difference in the game came at the free throw line where the Mountaineers, which entered the game shooting 68 percent, was 24-of-30 for 80 percent. The Herd was 12-of-22 for 54.5 percent.

WVU made just one of its first eight attempts from the field, which Marshall took advantage of as it led 19-13 after a fastbreak dunk by Kane. However, the Mountaineers went on an 18-6 run in the final seven minutes of the half to take a 31-25 lead at the break.

"We got shook," said head coach Tom Herrion. "We knew they were going to pressure us. We turned it over every which way possible. We talked about playing low, playing strong with the ball, but we got shook and sped up. It was clearly a bad way to go through that stretch near the end of the first half."

The Herd cut the deficit to just one, 33-32 at the 15:55 mark until the Mountaineers went on a 13-5 run over the next 5:21 to go ahead 46-37 with 11:14 to play.

A D.D. Scarver three-pointer brought the Herd to within five points at 57-52 with 2:24 remaining. However, the Herd never got any closer as its final total of 59 was its fewest in a game this season.

"We'll get better from this game, we will move forward," Herrion said. "It's December 5th.  I'm just disappointed."

WVU was led by Deniz Kilicli who scored a game-high 21 points. Aaric Murray scored seven points and brought down 10 rebounds. WVU out rebounded the Herd 43-35 and scored 18 more points in the paint (36-18).

Marshall will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Coppin State.