Published: December 20, 2008 12:06 am      

Marshall hosts NAIA’s top-ranked team tonight

Cumberlands handed MSU its only loss

The University of the Cumberlands basketball team has been in West Virginia numerous times over the past few years.

The Patriots play in the same conference as WVU Tech in Montgomery, and Mountain State University fans in Beckley know the Cumberlands all too well.

Tonight, the Patriots will play on a different level in a different part of the state.

Marshall (5-4) hosts the Patriots at 7 p.m. at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington. The Thundering Herd will put its three-game win streak on the line against a team that won its first 10 games of the season.

The Cumberlands (10-1) may be an NAIA team, but it isn’t the No. 1 team in the nation for nothing. The Patriots own some big wins, including an 89-73 victory over then-No. 3 MSU Nov. 20.

MSU, a perennial NAIA national tournament bully that won it all in 2004, was held to a season low in points scored by the Patriots. The Cougars are now No. 2 and will host the Cumberlands Jan. 6.

The Cumberlands’ last game was a 77-59 loss to NCAA Division II No. 18 Bellarmine Dec. 13. The loss snapped a 10-game win streak.

“I don’t look at teams based on what division they are in,” Marshall coach Donnie Jones said. “They are a great team and have a terrific coach. I have a lot of respect for their program. It will be a tough challenge for our team.”

Leading the Patriots is senior forward Luke Fitzgerald, a 6-foot-7, 240-pound forward averaging a team-high 14.2 points and 6.5 rebounds. Three other players average double figures in scoring — junior guard Chad Byron (13.3), senior forward Josh Phillips (11.2, 6.2 rpg) and junior guard Xavier Price (10.6, 6.7 rpg).

Terrance Asmond, 5-9 senior point guard, is next at 9.4 ppg and 3.8 assists.

The Patriots are shooting just over 48 percent as a team.

“They have good shooters, a good bench and are well coached,” Jones said. “Those are three dangerous things to compete against.”

Marshall is coming off Wednesday’s 73-68 win over Ohio University. The Herd led most of the game until the Bobcats tied it at 66-66 with less than two minutes to play.

But it was a three-pointer by Chris Lutz at the 1:13 mark that proved the dagger.

Lutz had missed four games because of a hamstring injury, but has gone 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) from three-point range in the three games he has played since coming back.

Not coincidentally, the Herd was 1-3 in his absence and has won three straight since then.

Lutz is averaging 11.4 points off the bench.

Now leading the team in scoring is freshman point guard Damier Pitts at 11.6 ppg. He also leads the Herd at 3.8 assists. Pitts had a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists against the Bobcats, the first double-double involving assists since A.W. Hamilton — Pitts’ assistant coach last year at Hargrave — did it Nov. 29, 2003, against Morehead State.

Joining Pitts in the starting lineup are freshman guard Shaquille Johnson (11.4 ppg), senior guard/forward Markel Humphrey (10.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.2 apg), junior forward Tyler Wilkerson (10.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and sophomore forward Tirrell Baines (8.7, 5.9).

The teams have one common opponent — WVU Tech, which Marshall drubbed 110-57 Nov. 16 in its season opener. Tech doesn’t play the Cumberlands until Jan. 22.

Marshall hits the road Tuesday to take on Dayton of the Atlantic 10. That game will tip at 8 p.m.

— E-mail:

gfauber@register-herald.com