The Marshall University men’s basketball team held its season-ending banquet on Saturday evening, honoring the 2010-11 squad, which posted a 22-12 record while advancing to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
The Thundering Herd accomplished several feats this season, including posting back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1988. The Herd went 5-1 against the RPI Top 100 in games played in the state of West Virginia, including wins over WVU and Memphis.
Several players were honored on Saturday, led by seniors Tirrell Baines and Orlando Allen. Allen played one season at Marshall after graduating from the University of Oklahoma while Baines finished his career with 1,238 points, 27th overall and was just the 12th player in program history to record 1,200 points and 600 rebounds.
Baines, along with redshirt freshman DeAndre Kane, were named the recipients of the Hal Greer Most Outstanding Player Award. Kane, the C-USA Freshman of the Year, became just the second freshman in program history to tally 500 points.
Other awards given out include the Tamar Slay Sixth Man Award (Dago Pena), Greg White Playmaker Award (Damier Pitts), the Mike D’Antoni Mr. Marshall Award (Shaquille Johnson), the J.R. VanHoose Coaches Award (Yous Mbao) and the Leo Byrd Most Improved Player Award (Nigel Spikes).
Baines and Pitts were also honored for scoring their 1,000th career points this year while head coach Tom Herrion received a commemorative ball signifying his 100th career win, which came over SMU in February.