Marshall Hosts Alabama State in Season Opener

HUNTINGTON, West Virginia – Marshall will begin its 99th season of men’s basketball on Friday at 7:30 p.m. as the Thundering Herd hosts Alabama State at the Cam Henderson Center. The first-ever meeting with the Hornets is Marshall’s first of eight opponents on the schedule that qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season.

The Herd is coming off a 65-55 win over Northern Kentucky in its only exhibition game of the season. Marshall shot 56 percent from the field in the second half to pull away after trailing 32-27 at halftime. Most of the Herd roster shared playing time and senior guard Shaquille Johnson led the team with 16 points. The game gave the eight Marshall newcomers valuable playing time. Junior transfer Dennis Tinnon recorded 11 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Justin Coleman scored 15 points in 25 minutes of play.

Marshall is 76-23 all-time in season openers and has won its last five. Last season, the Herd opened the season with a 92-69 win over West Virginia Tech in Tom Herrion’s first game as the head coach at Marshall.

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Marshall's ambitious slate opens with NCAA tournament team - Alabama State

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall will play a dozen games this season against teams that competed in last year's NCAA Tournament. There are, of course, Big East basketball behemoths like Syracuse, West Virginia and Cincinnati that Herd Coach Tom Herrion confidently added to an ambitious schedule.

There are lesser-known 2010 Big Dancers like Belmont, which Marshall plays twice - and that won 30 games last season - and Akron, a 23-win team a year ago. Then there is tonight's Henderson Center visitor: Alabama State.

A perk of Marshall's continued involvement with the Global Sports Shootout is that the program gets to feast on three relative unknowns before traveling elsewhere to take on a big dog.

In this year's event, the Herd will start with Alabama State, Jacksonville State and Northwestern State before playing at No. 21 Cincinnati on Nov. 25. The first three opponents averaged 13.3 wins last season and none finished with an RPI higher than 237.

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ASU men's basketball: Hornets open at Marshall tonight

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- The quest for another Southwestern Athletic Conference championship for the Alabama State men's basketball team begins tonight at Marshall University. Tipoff has been schedule for 6:30.

The Hornets will be led by seventh-year head coach Lewis Jackson, who has welcomed eight newcomers to team with a solid core of six returnees from the conference championship squad. He said he is ready to see this team hit the floor.

"It is always good to get the season kicked off," Jackson said. "We are excited and we have a group of guys that always seem eager to get on the floor. We are just excited about this opportunity."

ASU was able to defeat Fort Valley State 65-57 in an exhibition game to open the season. Kenderek Washington led the way with 21 points and Jeff Middlebrooks added 13 and freshman Luther Page had 10.

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Herd women falter late in 57-53 loss to North Carolina A&T

HUNTINGTON, WV -- It was only fitting that the last set play of the Marshall University women's basketball game Saturday was a turnover. On a night when Marshall and North Carolina A&T combined for 53 turnovers, the Aggies used a 17-6 run over the last nine minutes of the game to earn a 57-53 win over the Thundering Herd. A crowd of only 189 in Cam Henderson Center saw the Herd drop to 2-6.

"I think we turned it over about every way you can and we didn't play tough down the stretch when we needed to," Marshall coach Royce Chadwick said. "We just didn't execute as well as I would have hoped at this stage of the game." Marshall had several chances to win down the stretch but didn't come up with points when needed.

Gallery: Marshall Women's Basketball vs North Carolina A&T

Marshall Women's Basketball Falls Short Against North Carolina A&T, 57-53

Marshall’s Tynikki Crook posted her third double-double of the season with a game-high 25 points and 12 rebounds but it wasn’t enough to push the Herd past North Carolina A&T, 57-53, in Saturday night’s non-conference women’s basketball game at the Cam Henderson Center.

The Thundering Herd drops its second-straight, falling to 2-6 on the season while the Aggies improve to 3-4 and grab its first-ever win against MU bringing the series to 2-1 in favor of the Herd.

In a battle of two win teams, both struggled to gain control early combining for three turnovers in as many possessions. The Herd shot 14-of-20 from the field, 70%, in the opening stanza to grab a 33-30 advantage at the break.

Aggies Knock Off Marshall

HUNTINGTON, WV - North Carolina A&T used its strongest defensive performance of the season to defeat Marshall 57-53 Saturday night in women's basketball action at the Cam Henderson Center. Freshman Sabre Proctor led the Aggies with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting. The Aggies shot just 31. 8 percent for the game but forced the Thundering Herd into 34 turnovers.

"Defense definitely won this game,'' said N.C. A&T head coach Patricia Cage-Bibbs. "We played extremely hard and kept our composure throughout the entire game."

N.C. A&T trailed 47-40 with nine minutes remaining. Jaquayla Berry capped a 10-2 run with a layup that gave the Aggies a 50-49 with four minutes to play. Layups by Nikia Gorham and Proctor put the Aggies ahead by three.

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