Euros provide lift for shorthanded Herd

For the second straight game, the Thundering Herd took on a team from the Buckeye state without one of it's best interior players. Last week against Ohio State it was senior leader and All-CUSA selection Ryan Taylor and on Wednesday night it was Marshall's leading rebounder, Terrance Thompson. 

Without Taylor Ohio State hammered the Herd 111-70 doing most of its damage inside the paint and with the Bobcats bringing in a sizable front court of its own the fear was, without Thompson, the Herd may be in for another beat down. Especially considering that Ohio was coming in with an undefeated record, boasting a win over the ACC's Georgia Tech and featured 6-10 Antonio Campbell the MAC's reigning player of the year. 

But, instead what happened was a complete team effort that saw every player who entered the game contribute something, with perhaps the biggest contributions coming from coach Dan Dantoni's European prospects. The trio of Ajdin Paneva (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Aleska Nikolic (Serbia), and Milan Mijovic (Serbia) were paramount to the Herd's success against the Bobcats. 

It started with Paneva in the early going as the lanky sophomore, who replaced Thompson in the starting lineup scored six of the Herd's first 11 points. Then came Nikolic, who has been a sparkplug off the Herd's bench providing instant energy and disrupting defense as he gave Ohio guards trouble with his length while grabbing seven boards and lastly Mijovic, who played in just his second game of the season hit a crucial mid-range jumper and a pair of free throws that helped break Ohio runs in the first half. 

All in all the three Europeans combined for 20 points and 11 rebounds in 45 minutes of play effectively replacing the production and then some of the injured Thompson who averages 12 points and eight boards for the Herd. In many ways, it was a breakthrough moment for Marshall's foreign student athletes, a breakthrough that Dantoni has been promising was coming. 

"It was obviously big," Dantoni said in the post-game press conference. "They played well. You know I'm happy for them. They work hard, Milan is one of the hardest working players I've ever been around. He came in at 270 (pounds) and now he's down to 235, he couldn't dunk then and he was in our dunk contest this year. " 

"That's why you're in coaching, for me at least," Dantoni continued. "I want to win, don't get me wrong I'm a competitor through and through but in the end why I coach is people like that, who make you feel good. You know who show that if you work hard and you're a good guy, a good teammate, somehow you'll find a way to contribute. That's what he's done, that's what they've done. I'm proud of all three of them. It's a different game from over there (Europe) to here. It takes some time but those kids are getting there." 

They got a step closer against the Bobcats.