Marshall gets off to fiery start for Terriers

Former Greenbrier basketball star Eric Marshall came into this season with high expectations. The 6-foot-4 guard is entering his junior season at Wofford College and will be one of the main offensive weapons for the Terriers in 2005-06.

Through his first three games, Marshall has not disappointed. The former two-time Columbia County Player of the Year opened his season with a 24-point effort vs. Fairleigh Dickinson University. Wofford picked up a 73-62 victory, and Marshall was sensational in the opener. In addition to his 24 points, he added six rebounds, two assists and two steals in his 35 minutes of action. He made four of five shots from behind the 3-point line and connected on 8 of 11 from the free-throw line.

After the win over Fairleigh Dickinson, Wofford faced two tough opponents. First up was West Virginia. The Mountaineers are coming off one of the best seasons in school history and are ranked No. 14 in the nation. In the early going, however, it was all Wofford as they led by five points at the half. West Virginia came out hot after the intermission and beat the Terriers 61-41.

Marshall scored 11 of his team's 41 points. He also added five rebounds and two assists. After their game with West Virginia, the Terriers traveled to West Lafeyette, Ind., to tangle with Purdue. The Boilermakers got all they could handle from Wofford, but edged the Terriers 82-75. Marshall again came up big, scoring 13 points despite a poor shooting night. He also pulled down four boards, dished out two assists and picked up two steals.

Marshall could be headed for an All-Conference caliber year for Wofford. Here are his averages through three games: 16 points per game, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and 35 minutes per game.

This is against two of the toughest teams Wofford will face all season. Keep up the good work, Eric.

Congrats to the Lions

The state championship victory by Augusta Christian Schools has been covered by sports writer Billy Byler, but I had to make mention of the spectacular season by the Lions, if for no other reason than to say congratulations to coach Bruce Lane, his staff, the Lions players and all of the ACS fans. Here are a few stats that really stood out for the Lions:

ACS outscored their opponents 465 to 180. That's 35.8 points per game for ACS (just 13.8 points per game for their opponents).

That means that ACS won by an average of 22 points per game.

The defense held opponents to single digits in eight of their 13 games.

Dillon Quick, Jordan Yates, and Clayton Adams combined for a mind-boggling 59 tackles for loss.

Quarterback Lee Banks was simply amazing. Here are some of his impressive numbers:

- 89 of 125 passing (71 percent) for 1,513 yards

- 20 touchdown passes vs. just four interceptions

- 1,164 yards rushing on just 121 carries (9.6 yards per rush) and 15 more touchdowns

Junior placekicker Alden Fisher was extremely busy. He connected on 58 of 61 extra points. That's right: 61 extra-point attempts!

Running backs Brad Meister, Jay Harmon and Kyle Meeks combined for 2,086 yards on only 280 attempts. That is an average of 7.5 yards per carry. Combined with Banks' numbers, the quartet had 401 attempts for 3,250 yards (8.1 yards per carry) and 37 touchdowns.

All these numbers add up to a pretty special season for the Lions.