Published: December 02, 2008 11:00 pm      

East Tennessee State holds off Marshall, 76-72

HUNTINGTON — As entertaining as the series with East Tennessee State is, Marshall is glad it will never see Kevin Tiggs again.

Tiggs scored a career-high 31 points and played all 40 minutes of the Buccaneers’ 76-72 win over Marshall on Tuesday.

Tiggs, a 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior forward, shot 13-of-18 from the floor as East Tennessee was 31-of-56 (55.4 percent) as a team.

Tiggs, the junior college national player of the year at Mott Community College in 2007, has averaged 27 points in his last three games against the Thundering Herd (2-4). He scored 26 in Marshall’s 84-83 overtime win last season, then put up 24 in a 79-73 Bucs’ victory two weeks later.

Tiggs hit a 3-point shot to give ETSU a 67-65 lead with 2:15 remaining and then added a layup for a 69-65 lead with 1:26 left. The Buccaneers (4-3) iced the game on Mike Smith’s two free throws with 6 seconds remaining.

Smith added 16 points for the Buccaneers. Leading scorer Courtney Pigram was held to six points.

Markel Humphrey led Marshall with 14 points. Damier Pitts added 11 points and Tirrell Baines scored 10 points and had 10 rebounds.

Marshall outrebounded the Bucs 32-26, including 21 on the defensive glass. But East Tennessee out-scored the Herd 42-16 in the paint.

The Herd visits Boston University at 3 p.m. Saturday.



ETSU (4-3)

Hamlin 3-5 2-2 8, Brown 3-4 0-0 6, Tiggs 13-18 3-5 31, Smith 6-12 2-4 16, Pigram 3-11 0-1 6, Hubbard 0-0 0-0 0, Sollazzo 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 3-4 0-0 9, Williams 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 31-56 7-12 76.

MARSHALL (2-4)

Humphrey 4-7 2-2 14, Wilkerson 2-3 5-6 10, Merthie 3-8 0-0 8, Pitts 4-13 0-0 11, Johnson 4-7 0-0 9, Spann 1-3 2-2 5, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Baines 4-6 2-5 10, Goode 1-4 3-4 5. Totals 23-51 14-19 72.

Halftime—ETSU 42-33. 3-Point Goals—ETSU 7-15 (Jones 3-4, Tiggs 2-3, Smith 2-4, Pigram 0-2, Williams 0-2), Marshall 12-27 (Humphrey 4-7, Pitts 3-9, Merthie 2-4, Wilkerson 1-1, Spann 1-2, Johnson 1-3, Goode 0-1). Fouled Out—Hamlin. Rebounds—ETSU 26 (Brown, Smith 6), Marshall 32 (Baines 10). Assists—ETSU 16 (Pigram 6), Marshall 17 (Johnson 6). Total Fouls—ETSU 14, Marshall 14. A—5,310.