East Carolina University
Marshall
Men's Basketball Suffers Heartbreaking Loss To Marshall
February 21, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2007
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GREENVILLE, N.C. --- Mark Dorris hit a jumper with 28 seconds left to break a 51-all tie and lift Marshall to a 54-51 win over host East Carolina inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Wednesday night.
The loss was the Pirates' record-setting 13th consecutive and dropped their overall record to 5-21 and 0-13 in Conference USA. The Thundering Herd improved to 11-16 overall and 6-7 in the conference.
"We missed some shots, but I like our effort," said Pirate head coach Ricky Stokes. "The ball sometimes bounces funny, and tonight it just didn't bounce how we wanted it. Hopefully, Saturday we'll shoot the ball a little better."
ECU freshman John Fields, who missed the last two games due to a knee injury, recorded his third double-double of the season netting a team-high 11 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Darrell Jenkins also scored double figures with 10 points and distributed a game-high six assists.
Marshall sophomore Markel Humphrey led all scorers with 12 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds. Dorris added 11 points.
ECU fell behind by eight midway through the first half, but went on a 15-2 run to take a three-point lead, 23-20, with 4:32 remaining before halftime. The Pirates maintained the lead through the end of the half and led by four at the break, 31-27.
The second half began with Marshall scoring the first six points of the half and reclaiming the lead less than four minutes into the half. Over the next eight minutes, there were three lead changes and fives ties before MU gained a five-point advantage with 5:23 left, 49-44.
A dunk and pair of free throws by Fields brought ECU within one before it took the lead, 50-49, on layup by Jenkins with 4:11 left.
Marshall quickly answered back as Chris Ross made a driving layup with 2:29 showing. Jenkins then converted the second of two free throws to tie game with 1:24 ticks left on the clock.
After Dorris' jumper, the Pirates called timeout to set up a play that got Jenkins a layup to the basket, but his shot rolled off the right side of the rim and MU secured the rebound. Ross then converted a free throw to determine the final margin.
