Marshall finishes strong to take care of Southern Miss, 72-58

Marshall’s Taevion Kinsey rises for a dunk against Southern Miss.

 

— By David Walsh

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — With 11:45 left in the game, Southern Miss found itself ahead of Marshall, 52-45.

The Thundering Herd, which saw a 14-point lead in the first half evaporate, needed some good fortune to avoid letting the opponent charge back and win.

Marko Sarenac and the defense, along with big man Iran Bennett, supplied the remedies Thursday night in front 5,528 fans at Cam Henderson Center.

Sarenac connected on four three-pointers, two right after the Golden Eagles had taken the seven-point lead, Bennett continued to dominate on the inside and the Golden Eagles managed six points the rest of the way to allow the Thundering Herd to escape, 72-58.

“We played at best erratically,” Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni said. “For long periods, we play well. We’re up 12 and then we do some team mistakes and we’re down seven. I’m getting tired of them. 

“The effort was not erratic. Toward the end the defense shut them down,” D’Antoni continued. “That’s good. Marko helped get us playing. Kept our heads up, they were about to go down. One man hit a bunch of shots. You ride that horse.”

Marshall (11-13, 5-6 C-USA) returns to action Saturday at home against Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m. Southern Miss fell to 7-17 and 3-8 in C-USA.

Taevion Kinsey liked the way Marshall responded to the adverse going early in the second half after the Golden Eagles battled back and took the lead.

“Defense … had little breakdowns,” Kinsey said. “Had to clean that up. Give a shoutout to Marko. He was a little flustered. He put the ball on the floor. I said, ‘stay still and shoot. We’ll start getting the ball to you. Knock the shots down.’”

Bennett led the Herd attack with 18 points and 12 bounds. Nine of the rebounds came on the offensive end. He made 8-of-14 shots and had just two fouls in 33 minutes.

“We just didn’t want to lose focus,” Bennett said. “So as I got back in, Jarrod (West) said, ‘go out and dominate.’ I did. We turned it up at the end.”

“When teams don’t double (Iran), he gets numbers,” D’Antoni said.

Marshall employed a steady rotation of players while Southern Miss featured six players for the most part. Fatigue appeared to become a factor down the stretch.

“They played zone, step back,” Kinsey said. “We took advantage, we got the ball to Marko. The rotations help. When you have a dominant person in the middle, you’ve got to give up something.”

Kinsey finished with 16 points and team-high six assists. West had 14 points and Sarenac 12. 

The Herd made 10 threes for the game and enjoyed an 18-0 advantage in bench poiints.

Leonard Harper-Baker led Southern Miss with 18 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double. Gabe Watson had 15 and Tyler Stevenson added 10.

“They had no burst to the other end,” D’Antoni said of the style the Golden Eagles employed. “I’m worried about (Iran) Saturday. He’s struggled when teams make him sprint. When they don’t, he’s capable of doing that.”

The Herd got by despite Andy Taylor (0-of-9) and Jannson Williams (0-of-7) coming up empty on 16 three-point attempts.

“Keep shooting,” D’Antoni said of the two. “They’ll start to drop.”

The Golden Eagles are 1-9 now in road games.

Marshall, ninth nationally in steals with 206 before the game, totaled nine and forced the visitors into 16 turnovers. 





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