By Gary Fauber
There were several reasons to be optimistic after Marshall’s 79-63 season-opening win over North Carolina A&T.;
The Thundering Herd outrebounded the Aggies 50-39 and had assists on 19 of its 28 field goals.
There was plenty to build on as Marshall (1-0) prepares to host Middle Tennessee State at 7 p.m. today in the ongoing Global Sports Invitational.
Senior forward Tyler Wilkerson assaulted the glass for 20 rebounds, 14 of them on the defensive end. Sophomore guard Shaquille Johnson tied a career-high with 22 points. He was 8 of 11 from the floor.
Point guard Darryl Merthie nearly had a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds. He also had seven assists.
“We had a couple of great individual efforts,” Marshall head coach Donnie Jones said. “Tyler Wilkerson’s 20 rebounds, (I’m) really proud of him. His focus hasn’t been necessarily on scoring as much as doing things that help our team.
“I thought Shaquille Johnson played extremely well. He had to play the point. We’ve got some guys playing out of position here with (Damier) Pitts out and (Dago) Pena hurt. We tried to play Dago, but he hasn’t really practiced but for one day. I was concerned a bit about him getting hurt so I took him back out.”
Pena, who, like Pitts was supposed to be out because of a concussion, played two minutes.
True freshman Hassan Whiteside grabbed 10 rebounds in 14 minutes.
Jones was happy with the way his team handled the Aggies’ defense.
“North Carolina A&T; pressed every possession and wore us down a little bit, but our guys found out a way to grind it out and get a victory for our basketball team,” he said.
Middle Tennessee State (1-1) is coming off Sunday’s 81-68 loss at Ohio, also in the GSI. Senior forward Montario Haddock had 25 points in the loss. Freshman forward J.T. Sulton scored 14 off the bench, while junior guard James Washington added 11.
The Blue Raiders shot just 4 of 19 (21.1 percent) from three-point range, but were 20 of 23 (87 percent) at the free throw line.
Marshall travels to Old Dominion Saturday for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
