HUNTINGTON, W.

Tuesday, November 27, 2001

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – After watching his Marshall Thundering Herd destroy Division II Shepherd College 96-46 Monday, coach Greg White could only come up with an understatement.

"Obviously, they (Shepherd) was overmatched tonight," said White. "We always play at least one small college school and we feel that we should play a West Virginia school if we can."

J.R. VanHoose scored 21 points to lead six players in double figures as Marshall (1-3) easily avoided going 0-4 to start the season for the first time since 1964-65.

Shepherd’s 46 points were the fewest allowed by Marshall since last January, when Eastern Michigan also scored 46.

"So much of basketball is confidence and you don’t gain confidence if you are not wining. Tonight, we got a chance to play a lot of guys and I feel that our players did a great job of staying in the frame work of what we wanted to do."

Marshall shot 58 percent from the floor for the game, scoring often in transition and using its considerable height advantage for easy inside baskets. The 6-foot-10 VanHoose hit 10-of-15 shots, mostly on layups.

VanHoose scored 15 points in the first half as Marshall raced to a 48-19 halftime lead thanks to a 19-0 run. He hit the first two baskets of the second half to start a 21-3 run as Marshall built a 69-22 lead.

The Herd’s biggest lead came on a Richard Wilson layup with 2:50 remaining to make it 94-34.

Shepherd (0-2) couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first meeting between the schools. The Rams committed 23 turnovers and shot just 32 percent from the floor.

Tamar Slay added 17 points for Marshall. Redshirt freshman Enoch Bunch had 16 points and a career-high 11 assists. Latece Williams had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Freshmen Ronnie Dawn and Keith Archie had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

"Enoch played a great game tonight. I though both our freshmen guards did a good job," White said.

Ryan Jones scored 18 points to lead Shepherd.

Joe Dressel, the former All-Ohio star for the St. Joe Flyers, scored two points off the bench as he hit a layup at the 2:06 mark of the second half for his first career points as a Marshall player.

Dressel is a 6-4 sophomore guard.

Marshall hosts Arkansas-Monticello at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.