MEN'S BASKETBALL: NOT UNEXPECTED

MARSHALL TAKES EXHIBITION VICTORY OVER NEW-LOOK MOUNTAIN LIONS

Zack Williams Post-Up at Marshall 314 x 209
Both Concord and Marshall had a pretty good idea what to expect from their men's basketball exhibition Thursday night:  The Division II Mountain Lions would have a difficult time matching up with the bigger, stronger, faster Division I Thundering Herd.

Which is what happened.

The Herd scored the game's first seven points on the way to a 112-65 win in front of 3964 fans at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, WV.

The result won't count in the standings. But even with that, CU head coach Steve Cox says he expects his new-look team to improve.

“We could do better,” Cox said Thursday night. “We had a hard time getting into the things we needed to run. But I expect that we'll learn from this, go and work on some things, and we'll be a better team because of it.”

Zack Williams & Aaron Fluellen at Marshall 314 x 209
Six of the top nine players in Concord's rotation are new to the team this year, including four starters. On Thursday night, CU's leading scorer and leading rebounder were newcomers – Javaughn Acree-Manuel topped the team with 17 points and Jerontae Hunter grabbed seven rebounds.

Marshall shot .592 (42-71) from the field and .458 (11-24) from three-point range in the debut of new head coach Tom Herrion. The Thundering Herd outrebounded Concord 51-30 while posting 25 assists and 14 turnovers. Concord finished with nine assists and 18 turnovers.

“They were just so much bigger than us that we had difficulty making our cuts and getting into position,” Cox said. “We'd try a cut and try to get the ball to someone at a certain spot, but they'd just muscle us out of the way. But we did some good things tonight, some things we'll be able to build on.”

The Mountain Lions shot .359 from the floor (23-64) and just .174 (4-23) from three-point range. Newcomer Aaron Fluellen and returner Rick Alderman backed up Acree-Manuel with ten points each.

Half-Court Set at Marshall 314 x 209
In the exhibition game, a total of 24 players from both sides saw action, and all but one of them scored.

“Coach Herrion had his players ready to go,” Cox said. “They took this game seriously. They came out with a lot of intensity, and if they keep going like this they're going to do very well in Conference USA this season.”

BOXSCORE/PLAY-BY-PLAY

Up next for Concord is the start of the regular season. The Mountain Lions visit Pitt-Johnstown for a WVIAC contest on Saturday, November 13. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 pm at the UPJ Sports Center in Johnstown, PA.



(Photos by Jennifer Logan)




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