HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – An 11-0 run early in the second half by homestanding Marshall put the Old Dominion men's basketball team in a hole they couldn't overcome in dropping a 73-65 decision on Saturday night in front of a sold out Cam Henderson Center crowd of 5,719.
In the first half, the Monarchs fell behind 13-4 as the Thundering Herd opened 5-of-7 from the field with an Obinna Anochili-Killen dunk putting the hosts up nine with 16:28 on the clock.
"I told them at that timeout to just calm down. Marshall came out on fire and knocked down some three's, to go with their pressure," said ODU Head Coach Jeff Jones. "We got some stops that allowed us to get out and run. Our getting stops allowed us not to get into their pressure, which enabled us to settle down," he added.
ODU (10-8, 2-4) slowly worked back into the game and used an 8-2 flurry to tie the game at 23 on a Mekhi Long dunk with 8:08 left.
As the lead went back-and-forth, the Monarchs hit a 7-0 run to take a 32-27 lead as Long hit a 3-pointer from the wing at the 2:11 mark. ODU kept the lead through the end of the half as Faizon Fields hit a layup with 21 seconds left to lead 37-32. Taevion Kinsey drained a pair of free throws to close the scoring in the half with ODU holding a 37-34 advantage.
Ben Stanley put ODU back up five 22 seconds into the second half with a layup off a Chaunce Jenkins steal for a 39-34 lead. Marshall (15-4, 4-2) took control with an 11-0 run over a four-minute span as Kinsey hit a pair of free throws with 14:34 left to take a 45-39 lead.
The Monarchs clawed back to 56-54 after a pair of Tyreek Scott-Grayson free throws with 6:44 left. Marshall answered with the next eight points to take the lead to double digits for the first time on the night at 64-54 following a Kinsey dunk at the 5:12 mark.
Long drained another three-ball for the Monarchs to trim the deficit one last time to four points at 66-62 with 1:53 remaining. Andrew Taylor and Kamdyn Curfman drained three-pointers with the shot clock winding down to give Marshall a 72-63 advantage with 48 seconds remaining.
"We played well enough to beat a lot of teams, but they made two huge three's late to seal the game," said Jones. "We gave ourselves a chance, we competed, played hard defensively. Kinsey is such a good player and we made him work for his points by throwing several looks his way," he added.
Jenkins scored a team-high 23 points to go with four assists, while Long had 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Scott-Grayson rounded out the double figure scorers for the Monarchs with 10 points and four assists. On the night, the Monarchs hit 52.1% from the field (25-of-48), 50% from 3-point range (5-of-10) and 66.7% from the line (10-of-15).
Kinsey paced Marshall with 24 points and eight assists, while Taylor had 19 and six boards and Curfman had 18 points hitting six 3-pointers.
Old Dominion returns to Chartway Arena next week for a pair of games starting with Georgia State on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
NOTES
ODU hit a season best field goal percentage in a road game at 52.1%.
Jenkins finished two points off his career high after he had 25 against Virginia Tech.
Long recorded his fourth double-double of the season.
Bryce Baker had season highs of four rebounds and three steals.
Second Half Run Sinks Monarchs On Road At Marshall 73-65
