Whiteside leads Herd past Ohio

CHARLESTON — Hassan Whiteside tied a Marshall University men’s basketball record for blocking shots Saturday night, but it wasn’t the best day he ever had.
Whiteside, who swatted away nine Ohio field goal tries in Marshall’s 60-53 victory over the Bobcats in the Charleston Civic Center, said afterward he once had 25 blocks in a prep school game.
Ohio players probably felt like he rejected that many of their shots, and used his 7-foot height and long arms to affect their aim on several other looks at the basket.
Oh, yes, Whiteside also toyed with a rare triple-double as he scored 14 and grabbed 17 rebounds.Marshall (4-1) rode the freshman’s performance to a solid win.
“If that’s what it takes, I’ll try to do it every night,” Whiteside said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to try to make the Herd better.”
Whiteside matched the Thundering Herd record of nine blocks set first by Omar Roland against Chattanooga on Jan. 3, 1990, then first tied by Latece Williams against the University of Charleston on Nov. 17,2000.
Marshall head coach Donnie Jones said he had no idea Whiteside was within reach of a triple-double when he replaced him with 29 seconds left in the game.
Jones said having a shot-blocking center is like having a goalie guarding the basket.Because of the blocks, Marshall was able to pressure the Bobcats (4-1), who made only 25.9 percent of their field goal attempts and were 6-for-26 on 3-point shots.
“He (Whiteside) did a good job manning the paint and it affected our two-point shooting percentage,” Ohio head coach John Groce said.
Herd forward Tyler Wilkerson, limited to 21 minutes on the court because of fouls, still scored 10 and grabbed seven rebounds. Guards Shaq Johnson and Darryl Merthie both added nine points.
Ohio wing player Tommy Freeman scored 16 on 4-of-8 3-point shooting and freshman guard D.J. Cooper had 15 points.
Marshall built a 14-point lead on Johnson’s 3-pointer with 17:03 left in the game, but Ohio refused to go away.
The Bobcats avoided Whiteside often enough to reduce the deficit to 55-51 when Cooper connected on a 3-pointer 1:20 remaining.
Ohio’s comeback bid was aided by some Marshall miscues, but the Herd played well defensively to hold on.
“Defense was the key, and rebounding, as I’ve been preaching,” Jones said. “We shut down what I thought was the best offensive team we’ve played.”
On Ohio’s next possession Whiteside reached out to block a shot by Armon Bassett.
Damier Pitts for the Herd was fouled and made a pair of free throws with 29 seconds to go for a 57-51 advantage.
Wilkerson sank three of four free throws in the final 18 seconds.
Marshall completed the Global Sports Invitational as the unofficial champion with a 4-0 record. Ohio finished the event at 3-1.
The crowd of 2,515 spectators was definitely pro-Marshall.
Jones used nine players and they all scored. Dago Pena (headaches) and Cam Miller (foot infection) were in uniform, but didn’t play.