Call it Marsh’ madness now!
SAN DIEGO — The Marshall Thundering Herd celebrated like never before.
For the first time in six tries during 62 years, the Thundering Herd won an NCAA Tournament game.
Jon Elmore scored 27 points and Jarrod West hit a huge 3-pointer with three minutes left to help No. 13 seed Marshall topple fourth-seeded Wichita State 81-75 in the East Region.
When the buzzer sounded, West raised his arms in the air and joyously ran practically the length of the court before joining his teammates in celebration.
“Long time!” coach Dan D’Antoni said moments later. Was it ever. The Thundering Herd (25-10) made its first NCAA tourney appearance in 1956 and made its most recent one in 1987, losing all five along the way. The 1987 loss was later vacated due to infractions. Its only postseason victories were in the NIT in 1967, when D’Antoni was on the team.
“So we’ve got a little bit to do,” said D’Antoni, the older brother of Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni. “I like these guys. I like the chance riding with them, fun to be on a trip with and they’re fun to watch to play and it’s real fun when we win.
“I told them the beginning goal is to win the NCAA Tournament. Wherever we get in the car driving down the road to that championship, when it stops we’ll all get off and we’ll be happy because we like who is in the car. We like the journey we’re on. We’re looking forward to the next leg, and I have confidence in these guys that they’ll give you a real good ballgame.”
Marshall joined Buffalo as 13th seeds to win this week. On Thursday night, Buffalo beat No. 4 seed Arizona.
The Thundering Herd also got big shots down the stretch from Ajdin Penava and C.J. Burks and will play the Murray State-West Virginia winner in the next round.
Wichita State (25-8) got 27 points from Conner Frankamp and seemed to be in control midway through the second, but the Thundering Herd refused to fade despite its lack of NCAA tourney experience.
After Frankamp’s long jumper gave the Shockers a 70-69 lead with just less than 5 minutes to go, Penava made a layup. The next time down the floor, West buried a long 3 and raised his right hand in celebration after giving the Thundering Herd a 74-70 lead.
Shaquille Morris responded with a slam dunk for the Shockers before the 6-foot-9 Penava made another layup and Burks had a steal and a layup to give Marshall a six-point lead.
Penava scored16 points, Burks 13 and Williams 10. Morris had 12 for the Shockers and Shamet 11.
Elmore scored nine straight points midway through the second half, including two 3-pointers, to help Marshall keep pace after it allowed the Shockers to go on a 15-1 run spanning halftime. —AP