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CLEVELAND (AP) (March 5, 2000) -- Travis Young's off-balance prayer in the lane with 37
seconds left March 5 helped Marshall survive a scare from Central
Michigan for a 58-56 quarterfinal victory in the Mid-American
Conference Tournament.
The Thundering Herd (21-8), the tourney's No. 5 seed, barely held on as
the No. 13 seed Chippewas (6-23) nearly pulled off their second upset of
the tournament and the second on Sunday.
In the day's first quarterfinal, Jason Grunkemeyer's 3-pointer at the
regulation buzzer forced overtime and ninth-seeded Miami of Ohio went on
to stun
top-seed Bowling Green by an identical 58-56 score.
This year's MAC tourney promised to be wide open with no clear-cut
favorite, and the RedHawks (14-14) got it started with a dramatic upset
of the
heavily favored Falcons (22-7).
The Chippewas, who shocked Akron in the first round, nearly made did
the same, getting 21 points from David Webber and playing some tenacious
defense.
But with the score tied at 56, Young slashed to the basket through
heavy traffic and threw up a shot just inside the foul line that somehow
went in.
Marshall's Derrick Wright then blocked a shot with 7.5 seconds
remaining and Central Michigan called a timeout to set up a play for
Webber, the
younger brother of NBA star Chris Webber.
Webber got a nice look but missed a 3-pointer from the right side that
Tim Kisner grabbed in the air. Kisner missed his follow, and Central
Michigan
couldn't run down the rebound in time to get off another shot and
Marshall's bench stormed the court in relief.
Webber, who scored 51 points in a Feb. 24 loss to Ball State, scored 11
straight during a five-minte stretch in the second half to keep the
Chippewas
close.
His 3-pointer with 10:37 remaining brought Central Michigan within
49-47, and with Marshall suddenly cold from the field, Webber's jumper
with
6:49 tied it at 51.
Neither team could do much offensively down the stretch and the
physical play led to Central coach Jay Smith and Marshall's Greg White
exchanging
words midway through the second half.
Slay was just 2-of-11 from 3-point range and Marshall, the league's
best 3-point shooting team, was only 3-of-21 beyond the arc.
In Sunday's second quarterfinal session, second-seeded Ball State plays
No. 7 seed Toledo and No. 3 seed Kent takes on No. 6 seed Ohio.