— By David Walsh
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Marshall University’s Iran Bennett registered his second double-double of the season to help the Thundering Herd defeat Middle Tennessee, 79-75, Thursday night in front of 2,703 fans at the Murphy Center.
Bennett, the Herd’s 6-foot-9 big man, hit for 17 points and pulled down 11 rebounds as Marshall movesdto 8-8 overall and 2-1 in Conference USA with its first league road win.
Taevion Kinsey added 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Herd. Darius George finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
“Good win. Any time you win on the road it’s a good win,” Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni said.
C.J. Jones led the Blue Raiders with 21 points. He entered the game as C-USA’s No. 5 scorer.
Middle Tennessee (4-12, 0-3 C-USA) has now lost seven in a row. Donovan Sims contributed 15 points and Reggie Scurry had 13 rebounds.
Kinsey’s jumper with three seconds left in the first half gave the Herd a 39-32 lead at the break.
Marshall tried to pull away several times in the second half, but the Blue Raiders hung tough. Jones made a layup with 2:38 left to cut the lead to four at 70-66. Kinsey responded with a basket with 2:16 to play and Jarrod West nailed a 3-pointer with 54 seconds to go to extend the lead to 75-66 and finish with 16 points.
Marshall made eight treys and the Blue Raiders canned 11. The Herd enjoyed a 46-28 edge in points in the paint.
Bennett made 7-of-14 shots and all three of his free throws. He had four offensive rebounds and seven on the defensive end. He entered the game with a 5.6 rebounds per game average.
“He’s a load inside,” D’Antoni said. “He’s going to get better. He’s working on some things. He’s very agile. He’s part of the reason we won tonight.”
Middle Tennessee threw some unique things at the Herd late and D’Antoni said his club must do a better job recognizing the situations.
“That’s our fault. We didn’t expect them to come at us,” D’Antoni said. “JW (West) had a big 3 we had to have.”
One statistic D’Antoni had to like is the assist-turnover ratio, with his team posting 16 assists and turning the ball over 14 times.
Marshall has won four in a row against the Blue Raiders, who still lead the overall series 11-7.
Marshall is back in action Saturday at UAB. Game time is 3 p.m. The Blazers defeated Western Kentucky, 72-62, at home Thursday night.