ODU Men's Basketball Rally Is Too Little, Too Late in 81-77 Loss to Marshall

By Harry Minium

NORFOLK, Va. – The Old Dominion men’s basketball team gamely rallied in the final minutes on Thursday evening, trimming what had been an 18-point Marshall lead with seven minutes left to three in the final seconds.

But in the end, the hole the Monarchs dug for themselves was too deep, and they fell to the Herd, 81-77, at Chartway Arena.

The loss was the fifth in the last six games for ODU (11-17 overall, 7-8 Sun Belt) and in several of those losses, the same scenario played out – the Monarchs fell behind early and didn’t have quite enough in the tank to catch up.

“It’s kind of becoming a little redundant digging ourselves into a hole and, you know, fighting our rear ends off to get out of the hole and coming close and falling short,” said Mike Jones, ODU’s first-year head coach “We definitely gave ourselves a chance. But credit goes to Marshall. They exploited a few things that we clearly have to clean up before we play them next week."

Marshall (16-12, 9-6) shot 60% (making 32 of 53 shots), outrebounded ODU, 34-30, and outscored the Monarchs in the paint, 42-34, with Obinna Anochili-Killen, a fifth-year senior from Nigeria, doing most of the damage with 24 points and four blocked shots.

The most telling statistic of the game may have been assists – Marshall had 21 and ODU just six.

Sean Durugordon led ODU with 19 points, Robert Davis Jr. had 18, R.J. Blakney 16 and Jaden Johnson 10 for ODU. All four played a big role in ODU’s comeback.

The game was played two hours earlier than originally scheduled because of a storm that dumped nearly a foot of snow on Norfolk and while the crowd of 3,839 was the smallest of the season, it raucously cheered the ODU comeback.

ODU never led and Anochili-Killen dunked the Herd to a 17-point lead, 45-28, a minute into the second half and the Monarchs were in danger of getting routed. ODU then went on a 7-0 run to cut the lead back to single digits.

The Herd pushed the lead back to double digits, and with 7:06 left, Jakob Gibbs made a layup and Marshall led by 18 points, 68-50.

The Monarchs then staged a remarkable comeback.

Freshman Scottie Hubbard, who came off the bench to score eight points, made a three-point shot to begin the ODU run, and that was followed by four points from Blakney and another three-pointer from Hubbard that cut the lead with nine with 4:14 left.

Johnson made a layup with 46 seconds left and after an ODU timeout, Durugordon forced a Marshall turnover and then made a layup to trim the lead to just three, with 40 seconds left.

Then, in a rapid fire few seconds, ODU forced another turnover, then turned the ball over and Blakney blocked a Marshall shot and then corralled the rebound.

But then the Monarchs turned the ball over and were forced to foul.

Mikal Dawson then made two free throws with 16 seconds left and the Monarchs trailed by five.

Davis then missed a three-point shot and the Herd rebounded, sealing the victory.

ODU went to a pressing defense in the game’s final minutes that turned the momentum. Alas, because of injuries that have knocked four players out of the lineup, Jones said the Monarchs don’t have the depth to press non-stop.

“You would hope 28 games into a season that you would know your identity and who you are and how you’re going to play and how rotations go,” Jones said. “We haven’t been able to do that.

“When we press, it helps us play with more energy. We would like to press, but with our limited depth at this point, we’d be crazy to try to do it for 40 minutes.

“We’re good when we can create that kind of chaotic play, when you’ve got guys getting deflections and steals, and just having a different energy level.

“But the bottom line is, we’re not deep enough right now to play that as much as we’d like to.”

ODU hosts Georgia State Saturday in its final home game of the season. The 7 p.m. game is the second of a doubleheader with the ODU women, who host Georgia Southern at 2 p.m.

ODU dropped a 20-point loss at Georgia State last week in Atlanta.

The Monarchs conclude the regular season with games at Marshall on Tuesday, Feb. 25, and Coastal Carolina, Friday, Feb. 28.