— By David Walsh
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Marshall University picked the wrong time to go ice cold.
The Thundering Herd held a 38-34 lead over UTSA at halftime in a key Conference USA men’s game Thursday night at the UTSA Convention Center. Marshall then made just one of its first 21 shots in the second half and the Roadrunners, while not shooting much better, took control with an 11-0 run and went on to beat the Thundering Herd, 72-63.
Marshall finished the second half 7-of-32, including just one three on 11 tries. UTSA had 11 total field goals in the second half, but was just 1-of-12 from behind the arc.
Both teams are now 12-14 and 6-7 in league play.
For the second straight game, the Herd got no production inside as 6-foot-9 Iran Bennett did not score and Goran Miladinovic did not play (ankle injury). Bennett missed two shots, one free throw and had five rebounds in 23 minutes.
Taevion Kinsey led Marshall with a career-best 27 points. Jarrod West added 15, but the junior hit just 1-of-8 from three-point range. West did have a team-high 10 rebounds. Guard Andrew Taylor did not score either for the Herd.
Jhivvan Jackson, the No. 2 scorer in the nation at 27 points a game, led the Roadrunners with 25 points. He and Atem Bior had 10 rebounds each. However, Jackson shot 10-of-28 from the field, including just 1-of-8 free three-point range. Keaton Wallace hit for 13 points, but he made just 3-of-19 shots and no threes on 10 tries.
UTSA enjoyed a 67-44 edge in rebounds, including a 27-11 edge on the offensive end. At the foul line, the Roadrunners made 21-of-26 attempts to 11-of-19 for Marshall. The home team had a 26-14 edge in bench points and 17-9 margin in second-chance points.
Marshall enjoyed a 9-0 burst late in the first half to take the 38-34 lead at the break.
Herd coach Dan D’Antoni had a lengthy postgame talk with his team and was not present for his radio postgame show.
The Herd travels to UTEP on Saturday for a game at 4 p.m. Marshall is locked in Pod 2 after all C-USA results from Thursday.
In other conference games, North Texas (11-2) beat Charlotte (8-5), 81-72; Western Kentucky (10-3) won at UTEP (4-9), 67-62; Southern Miss (4-9) beat FAU (6-7), 68-66; and Old Dominion (7-6) beat Rice (4-9), 73-70.