Monday, March 06, 2000
Marshall 58, Central Michigan 56
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Travis Young's off-balance prayer in the lane with 37 seconds left Sunday helped Marshall survive a scare from Central Michigan for a 58-56 quarterfinal victory in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Thundering Herd (21-8), the tourney's No. 5 seed, barely held on as the No. 13 seed Chippewas (6-23) nearly pulled off their second upset of the tournament and the second on Sunday.
Marshall will play Miami in tonight's first semifinal.
This year's MAC tourney promised to be wide open with no clear-cut favorite, and the RedHawks (14-14) got it started with a dramatic upset of the heavily favored Falcons (22-7).
The Chippewas, who shocked Akron in the first round, nearly made did the same, getting 21 points from David Webber and playing some tenacious defense.
But with the score tied at 56, Young slashed to the basket through heavy traffic and threw up a shot just inside the foul line that somehow went in.
Marshall's Derrick Wright then blocked a shot with 7.5 seconds remaining and Central Michigan called a timeout to set up a play for Webber, the younger brother of NBA star Chris Webber.
Webber got a nice look but missed a 3-pointer from the right side that Tim Kisner grabbed in the air. Kisner missed his follow, and Central Michigan couldn't run down the rebound in time to get off another shot and Marshall's bench stormed the court in relief.
Webber, who scored 51 points in a Feb. 24 loss to Ball State, scored 11 straight during a five-minute stretch in the second half to keep the Chippewas close.
His 3-pointer with 10:37 remaining brought Central Michigan within 49-47, and with Marshall suddenly cold from the field, Webber's jumper with 6:49 tied it at 51.
Neither team could do much offensively down the stretch and the physical play led to Central coach Jay Smith and Marshall's Greg White exchanging words midway through the second half.
Slay was just 2-of-11 from 3-point range and Marshall, the league's best 3-point shooting team, was only 3-of-21 beyond the arc.
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