Thundering Herd ends Gaels’ winning streak; Ohio rolls past Portland

Published 2:12 am Monday, December 12, 2011

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — Damier Pitts scored 25 points and DeAndre Kane had 19 points and five steals as Marshall defeated Iona 82-63 on Sunday, ending the Gaels’ seven-game winning streak.

Iona, which led the nation at 90.5 points per game coming in, turned it over 14 times leading to 17 Marshall points, and was held to just 3 of 13 from 3-point range (23.1 percent).

The Thundering Herd (6-2) trailed 30-22 with 7:34 left in the first half, and outscored Iona 18-8 over the next 6:35 for their first lead, 40-38, on Nigel Spikes’ layup.

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Marshall, which led 42-40 at halftime, got 13 points from Pitts and outrebounded Iona 21-6 in the second half.

Dennis Tinnon led Marshall — the nation’s eighth-best rebounding team (42.3) — on the boards with 11 rebounds as the Thundering Herd won the rebounding battle 39-18.

Mike Glover led the Gaels (7-2) with 20 points.

Ohio 72, Portland 54

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — D.J. Cooper had 14 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals to lead Ohio to a 72-54 victory over Portland on Saturday.

Walter Offutt added 12 points and Jon Smith had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Bobcats (7-1), who won their fourth straight game

Ryan Nichols and Kevin Bailey scored 13 each to lead Portland (3-7), which has lost its last three games and seven of its last eight.

Ohio broke open a close game with a 9-1 run to take a 47-38 lead early in the second half. The Bobcats added a 7-0 spurt a short time later to make it 57-43.

Portland rallied to pull within 61-52, but the Bobcats put the game away by outscoring the Pilots 11-2 the rest of the way.

Ohio shot 43 percent from the field while Portland made just 36.5 percent of its attempts.