HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Old Dominion men’s basketball team (9-6, 2-1 C-USA) fell in an overtime heartbreaker, 90-86, at Marshall (10-6, 3-0 C-USA) on Thursday night at the Cam Henderson Center. Both Ahmad Caver (26 points) and B.J. Stith (21 points) recorded career highs.
With no timeouts remaining and six seconds left in the game, Caver drove the entire length of the court and finished a reverse layup to send the contest into overtime.
Caver scored the first three points in overtime, before Marshall’s Austin Loop tied the game with a three, 80-80. Jordan Baker answered with a three-pointer of his own to give ODU another three-point lead, 83-80, with 3:28 left in OT. Stevie Browning then connected on a long two-pointer to bring the Thundering Herd within one, 83-82, with 2:30 to play.
Trey Porter answered with a dunk to put ODU up three (85-82) at the 2:00 mark of overtime. Elmore put Marshall back within one with a lay-in, before Zoran Talley would go 1-2 from the charity stripe to give the Monarchs a two-point lead, 86-84, with 1:23 left. Elmore tied the contest up at 86-86 after two made free-throws with one minute remaining.
Ajdin Penava converted on a layup to give the Thundering Herd a two-point lead with just 12-seconds showing on the overtime game-clock. Caver’s contested shot would rim in then out with three seconds to play, before Marshall sealed the deal at the free-throw line, giving the Thundering Herd a 90-86 win on Thursday night in Huntington.
“This was a tough one for us, but this was a terrific basketball game,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “These were two good teams tonight and at times I thought we looked really good and at times Marshall looked really good. I am very proud of the way our guys competed, especially when Brandan [Stith] went out, we had numerous guys step up and show a lot of guts.”
An 8-0 run over just a 50-second span expanded the Monarchs’ lead to 10, 45-35 with 14:47 to play in the second half. The Thundering Herd later responded with a 9-0 run over a 2:02 span to cut ODU’s deficit to one, 63-62, with 5:30 left in the regulation.
With 2:25 to play in the second half, Marshall claimed its first lead, 71-70. Stevie Browning then hit a three-pointer to give the Thundering Herd a four-point lead, before Trey Porter collected an offensive rebound and put-back to bring ODU back within two, 74-72 at the 47.9 mark.
Jon Elmore knocked down both of his free-throws to put Marshall back up by four (76-72) with 15 seconds to play. Jordan Baker then hit a long three-pointer to bring ODU within one, 76-75, with eight seconds left. Old Dominion then fouled Austin Loop with six seconds remaining in regulation, as Loop hit the first then missed the second. It was then that Caver gave the Monarchs new life by driving the distance of the court in six seconds and connecting on a reverse layup to send the game to OT.
Three other Monarchs joined Caver and B.J. Stith in double-figures, as Zoran Talley scored 13 points to go along with four rebounds. Jordan Baker (3-4 3PT) and Trey Porter (5-8 FG, seven rebounds and two blocks) each recorded 11 points, respectively. Denzell Taylor hauled down a game-high 13 rebounds to compliment his three assists, two points and two steals.
Five Monarchs scoring in double-figures marks a season-high. Old Dominion’s 86 points scored also marks a season high. ODU broke another season-high, as it shot 56.3% (9-16) from three-point range for the game.
Brandan Stith did not re-enter the game after spraining his ankle on the last play of the first half.
FIRST HALF NOTES
Ahmad Caver drilled three early three-pointers, while B.J. Stith also connected from deep to give the Monarchs a 12-0 lead 4:30 into the first half. The Monarchs defense held the Thundering Herd scoreless for the opening 8:03 of the contest, as ODU jumped out to a 14-0 advantage.
The Monarchs claimed a 32-28 lead at halftime, as 28 points was the fewest in any half for the Thundering Herd so far this season. B.J. Stith (3-3 3PT) poured in a half-high 15 points, just three points shy of his career-high, which he ultimately set. Also in double-figures in the first half for ODU was Ahmad Caver (3-5 3PT), who scored 11. Old Dominion shot 60% (6-10) from three in the opening half. In a half that ODU never trailed, the Monarchs led for 19:02 of the possible 20 minutes.
NEXT UP FOR THE MONARCHS
On Saturday, Jan. 7 at 6:00 p.m. EST, the Monarchs will take on Western Kentucky (8-7, 2-0 C-USA) in Bowling Green, Ky. on the American Sports Network (ASN). The Hilltoppers will enter Saturday’s contest 3-0 in Conference USA play on a five-game win streak.
The game will also air on the ODU Sports Network - ESPN Radio 94.1 FM (Norfolk), Sports FM 100.5 (Richmond), 94.1 FM WLVA and Fox Sports 580 (Lynchburg), with Ted Alexander and Dave Twardzik’s pregame show beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST.
ALL-TIME SERIES: ODU vs. WKU
-Saturday night will mark the 33rd all-time meeting between ODU and WKU.
-The all-time series is split 50/50, with each team winning 16 of the 32 games.
-These two teams met a total of three times last season, as ODU claimed victory in all three meetings.
-These two schools first met during the 1970-71 season in a game WKU won 96-82. In fact, the Hilltoppers won the first six meetings between the two schools.
-ODU is 4-14 all-time when playing WKU in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
MONARCH NATION, PLEASE NOTE – GAME TIME CHANGE!
The start time for the home game against LA Tech on Jan. 14 has been changed from 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.!
SINGLE-GAME TICKETS
Single-game tickets for Old Dominion University men’s basketball are on sale now at www.ynottix.com or by calling 757-683-4444.
For group pricing (10+), please call Todd McKeating at 757-683-7087.
All ODU students get in free all year long.
VOUCHER BOOKS
The voucher book includes 10 ticket vouchers that can be redeemed for tickets to any remaining home men’s basketball games. The tickets can be used all at once to bring a family or group of friends or spread out amongst multiple games. If you run out of vouchers, simply come back and purchase another voucher book. At just $99 per voucher book, it represents more than $70, or 40%, savings over face value.
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For a more in-depth look into the men’s basketball program, be sure to follow @ODUMBB on Twitter, ‘ODU Basketball’ on Facebook and odu_mbb on Instagram.