Marshall Mashes Morehead State, Herd Claims Ellis Johnson Trophy

HUNTINGTON — When there are over 100 years of rivalry, playing the 98th game in the series that began in 1908, the two teams are going to play hard in against one of its long-time rivals. When you add a trophy into the mix, in honor of the former Marshall and Morehead State head basketball coach — named for the man that recruited Mike D’Antoni to play point for the Thundering Herd, taking that team to back-to-back NIT appearances — and the fact the Herd had lost three in a row to the Eagles, well let’s just say that Marshall’s current head coach was pretty excited his team came out focused and picked up its 51st win against 47 losses all-time with a hard-fought 85-77 win over Morehead State to earn the Ellis Johnson Traveling Trophy for the first time since a win over the Eagles in November of 2012.

…