Marshall thunders by Tulane, snaps 4 game streak

Marshall looked like it was going to fall back into it's all too familiar habit of digging it's self into a whole to climb out of early in a game.

Eating acid before going to the Henderson Center is not advised.

However, tonight in Huntington, The Herd may have finally figured it out, and gotten over that hump. Tulane jumped out to a 10-5 lead at about the 15:41 mark on Jordan Callahan's three. After Marshall failed to connect on 3 opportunities, and then DeAndre Kane turning the ball over, it seemed as if they were going to follow the same pattern they had been on.

Dennis Tinnon hit a jumper to bring the score to 10-7 Green Wave, and once again Marshall couldn't find the bucket, but as per usual, was cleaning the glass. Fortunately for the Herd, Tulane was having issues scoring as well.

Neither team scored after Tinnon's jumper which came at about 14:26, until after a TV timeout, When Shaq Johnson connected from downtown, to knot the game up at 10. Until that point, Marshall was still struggling to find the hoop, but thanks to their rebounding tenacity and two fouls by Tulane's Ricky Tarrant and Ben

Cherry, the Herd was finally able to get it in the basket at about the 11 minute mark with Shaq's three.
More fouls were to immediately follow,and turnovers by Marshall's Robert Goff and Tulane's Tre Drye. Drye would hit a layup in this span as well to bring the score to 10-11, Marshall, which gained the advantage on a made free-throw by Damier Pitts. Marshall would match that with another three by Johnson, and Tulane called a timeout to try to keep the Herd from getting hot. Thanks to more rebounding and Tulane fouls,

Marshall put together a run which saw them go up 24-12 with about 5 minutes left in the first half, at which point Tulane would call another stoppage. Within the next two minutes, Tulane missed two layups, and

DeAndre Kane made one and after a Tulane turnover led to a Robert Goff dunk, Tulane once more tried to stop the Herd from thundering. Marshall continued to struggle a little form outside, but that is almost  a non-factor for the way the Herd rebounds.

The Half ended with  fouls on Tinnon and Goff for the Herd, and Drye dunking for Tulane as time expired, with Marshall up 35-22.

Marshall came out in the second half and decided that they were not going to drop another game at home on this night. The Herd continued to dominate the boards and got inside scores from Kane and Tinnon, and some outside points from Pitts and Dago Pena, and by the first TV Timeout at 15:23, had built themselves a 14 point lead at 44-30. They would not look back.

Marshall would cruise the rest of the way in the Henderson Center, beating Tulane to the tune 63-44, snapping a 4 game losing streak, and a 3 game C-USA skid.

Marshall, if they have truly turned the corner, have done it at the right time. Their chances of getting in all but went away in the midst of this latest rough patch they went through, but can build on tonight's performance going into the conference tournament, one in which they are more than capable of winning and punching a ticket to March that way.

Dre Kane led Marshall tonight with 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.

Dennis Tinnon had 12 rebounds, and Marshall once again owned the boards against their opponent, out-rebounding the Green Wave 40-21.

Shaq Johnson was 3 for 3 behind the arc and a perfect 3 for 3 at the foul line, finishing with 12 points.

Damier Pitts finished with 8 assists.

The win brings Marshall's record to 14-8 on the season, with a 5-3 conference mark, to tie them with UCF for 3rd in Conference USA.

Marshall goes on the road to play Tulsa on Saturday.