WVU Basketball: Mountaineers Upset by Rival Marshall, Snapping Four-Game Win Streak

As the Mountaineers and Marshall Thundering Herd met in the West Virginia state capital, West Virginia was unable to extend their winning streak to five as they were outmuscled by their southern rival, 75-71 on Wednesday night.

In the basketball series, WVU hadn’t lost to Marshall in Charleston since the Herd was able to knock off the Mountaineers in back to back years in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Deniz Kilicli, who played a major part in the upset of Purdue on the 17^th, was the lone bright spot for the Mountaineers in the early part of the game, as many of the Mountaineers were plagued with foul trouble along with the turnover bug that has been featured in nearly every Mountaineer game this season.

As the first half ended, Damier Pitts and the Thundering Herd were able to take advantage of excellent free-throw shooting, missing only four of 15 attempts in the first 20 ugly minutes of the game, leading to a 35-21 lead at intermission.

Once the second half began in earnest, the Thundering Herd was able to take control of the game right off the bat as they were able to attack the Mountaineers, who were still stuck with the poor shooting from the first half.

After Marshall was able to stretch the lead out to more than 20 points, Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers were able to claw their way back into the game as the clock dropped past the 10 minute mark in the second half.

As West Virginia worked its way back within 10 points, Marshall was being hurt by the same thing that helped give them their halftime lead, as WVU cut their deficit down point by point at the line with Joe Mazzulla and John Flowers leading the way.

In the end, the Mountaineer comeback was not to be as Marshall was able to hold off the charge from West Virginia. The loss drops the team to 12-5 as well as the Herd improving to 13-5 in 2011.

With that being said, let’s get to the stats breakdown of how the Mountaineers were able to send the rival Thundering Herd back to Huntington with another win tonight.

Players of the Game:

West Virginia: John Flowers – 16 Points, Seven Rebounds, Assist

Marshall: Damier Pitts – 25 Points, Four Rebounds, Four Assists

Shooting:

West Virginia: 32.7 percent from the Field, 26-35 from the Free-Throw Line

Marshall: 39.3 percent from the Field, 23-35 from the Free-Throw Line

Rebounding:

West Virginia: 37 Rebounds, 15 Offensive Rebounds

Marshall: 28 Rebounds, 10 Offensive Rebounds

Turnovers:

West Virginia: 15 (Leader: Darryl Bryant with five)

Marshall: Nine (Leader: DeAndre Kane with three)