The Tulane Green Wave held on for a 73-65 victory over the Marshall Thundering Herd
in a heated Conference USA game at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, W. Va.
Saturday before a crowd of 3,629.
The Green Wave's record rises to 13-11 overall, and 6-6 in C-USA.
Marshall's record falls to 10-16 overall, and 5-7 in C-USA.
The Wave, which has now won four of it's last five games, was led by Chris Moore and
Daniel Puckett, who each totalled 17 points, thirteen of them in the first half. Donnie Stith added 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Tulane. David Gomez scored eight points for the Wave, six of them in the closing minutes as the Green Wave pulled away from Herd.
Marshall was led by Markel Humphrey and Mark Dorris, who tallied 15 points apiece for the Herd. Travis Aikens added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Tulane's defense held the Herd to 30.6 percent from the field in the first half, and the Wave shot 44.4 percent themselves but trailed by a point, 33-32, at the half.
In the second stanza, Tulane picked it up a bit to shoot 46.4 percent from the floor. The
Green Wave went to the line eighteen times and made 13-of-18 free-throw attempts in the half to seal the win.
In the first half the Green Wave was called for eight personal fouls and the Herd was
whistled for seven. The game became more intense in the second half, and both teams were called for 14 personal fouls.
In the second half, it was a nip and tuck game until Chris Moore hit a pair of free throws
with 5:37 remaining to put the Green Wave ahead at 57-56. After a stop on the other
end and a defensive rebound by Donnie Stith, Chris Moore nailed a trey for the Wave
to make the score 60-56. But after the Herd's Chris Ross missed a pair of free throws
on the ensuing possession. Mark Dorris stripped Donnie Stith and took the ball down court for a dunk at the 4:11 mark to cut the Tulane lead to two.
The action culminated with the Green Wave leading 60-58 at the 4:03 mark, when Donny Stith grabbed a rebound of a missed three-point attempt by Chris Moore. Stith kicked the ball out to a teammate, and Asim McQueen attempted but missed a followup shot.
Stith rebounded again and this time put up a shot himself, but missed the layup and became involved in a struggle for that rebound with the Herd's Travis Aikens. As Stith and Aikens were tangled up, other players joined the scrum near the Tulane bench. Although Tulane players may have joined the action directly from the bench, no action was taken by the officials.
Tulane outscored the Herd 13-7 from that point to take the win.
The Green Wave resumes action on Ash Wednesday when they continue their road swing with a game against the University of Houston at Hofheinz Pavilion. Tip off is set at 7 p.m.