LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – In the opening game of the 2012 Old Spice Classic, the Marist Men’s Basketball team fell victim to a suffocating West Virginia defense in a 87-44 defeat on Thursday afternoon at the HP Field House on the ESPN Wide World of Sports Campus. Sophomore Isaiah Morton (Vineland, N.J.) led the Red Foxes (1-3) with 10 points and six assists.
After taking an initial 6-3 lead on the strength of two baskets by junior Adam Kemp (Sherrill, N.Y.) and two foul shots by sophomore Chavaughn Lewis (Queens, N.Y.), the Red Foxes were rudely reminded that West Virginia is still a perennial NCAA Tournament even with three new transfers and its early season loss to Gonzaga. From that 16:26 mark to 8:07, the Mountaineers stifled Marist offensively and ran off a 21-3 scoring streak to go up 24-9.
The Red Foxes would never quite recover from that cold spell and West Virginia would continue with its game plan on both ends of the court to take a 51-19 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.
In the second period, Morton spearheaded Marist’s offense as he finished with 10 points in 14 minutes of play. For the 1:19 minute span from 10:59 to 9:40, the sophomore was personally involved in all 10 points for Marist, as he scored seven on four free throws and a three-pointer and assisted on Lewis’ three-pointer from the near corner.
The Red Foxes also received solid production off of the bench from the big man duo of junior Pieter Prinsloo (Johannesburg, South Africa) and freshman Eric Truog (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) in the second half. Prinsloo registered five points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in 13 minutes, while Truog added four points and rebounds.
A three-pointer by sophomore Manny Thomas (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with four seconds remaining closed the scoring in the contest at 87-44.
For the game, West Virginia outshot Marist 52.9 (36-68) to 27.1 (13-48) from the field and 55.6 (5-9) to 35.0 (7-20) from three-point range. Individually, Morton led the way with 10 points on 2-6 three point shooting and 4-6 foul shooting. Kemp led both teams with a game-high nine rebounds in 23 minutes of play.
With a 75-62 decision in favor of Davidson in Game 2 of the Old Spice Classic, the Red Foxes will be back in action tomorrow, Nov. 23 in a 3 p.m. matchup versus Vanderbilt. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.
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