In the final exhibition game before the regular season, the Marshall coach was looking for the exact type of game the Thundering Herd needed from Premiere Sports.

Wednesday, November 17, 1999

In the final exhibition game before the regular season, the Marshall coach was looking for the exact type of game the Thundering Herd needed from Premiere Sports.

After falling behind 52-42 at the half, Marshall came back strong the second half and came away with an 87-74 win.

"I wasn’t happy with the first half, but I was happy with the second half," White said.

"That’s exactly what we needed. I wasn’t concerned about winning. I just wanted a close game that would make us play and make us execute, and we did that."

Marshall placed six players in double figures despite a sluggish shooting performance. The Herd shot 45.9 percent from the field and just 20 percent from 3-point range the second half.

Joda Burgess came off the bench to score 16 points including 6 of 9 from behind the arc. Tamar Slay had 15 points and nine rebounds, Travis Young 14 points and six assists, Cornelius Jackson 13 points, J. R. Vanhoose 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Derrick Wright 11 points and 14 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end.

Young had 11 of his points the first half and Burgess had 8 points as he hit 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

Jackson scored all 13 of his points the second half as the Herd wore down the visiting all-stars.

Tom Brandewie scored 22 points and former Ohio State and West Virginia guard Greg Simpson scored 19 to lead Premier Sports. Aaron Madry scored 15.

The lead exchanged hands 17 times the first half and the score was tied on six occasions.

But the Herd outscored Premier 21-10 to open the second half and took the lead on a jumper by Jackson at the 10:39 mark.

Simpson scored with 7:15 to play that tied the game at 68-68, but a layup by Edwin Johnson put Marshall up for good at 70-68 at the 6:55 mark. A 9-0 run pushed the lead to 77-68 and Premier could get no closer than eight points the rest of the game.