HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall ended its regular season with a 106-104 victory over North Texas on senior night Saturday in the Cam Henderson Center.
Senior forward Ryan Taylor led the way with 29 points and 10 rebounds, putting the Herd ahead 105-104 on a layup with 6.9 seconds left.
“All year long I was waiting on Ryan,” Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni said. “I don’t think he had the senior year that I wanted to him, probably that he wanted to have. He played his tail off that second half.”
On the inbound play, North Texas (8-22, 2-16) turned the ball over and was forced to foul Taylor, who hit the final free throw for Marshall (17-14, 10-8).
The Mean Green’s A.J. Lawson scored 26 points but couldn’t score the tying layup at the buzzer. J-Mychal Reese also scored 25 for North Texas.
Marshall’s two other seniors, Stevie Browning and Austin Loop, added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Junior guard Jon Elmore scored 19 to surpass the 1,000-point mark for Marshall, which trailed by eight at halftime.
Free-throw shooting proved to be critical, with the Herd going 23-of-30 compared to the Mean Green’s 10-of-18.
The Thundering Herd finished the regular season sixth in Conference USA and now looks to next week’s league tournament, where it will meet 11-seed Florida Atlantic Wednesday night in Birmingham, Ala.