— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The Marshall men’s basketball team got to see someone in a different jersey for the first time and handled the experience quite well.
The Thundering Herd steadily opened sizable first-half leads, built on them in the second and chalked up a victory over Davis & Elkins, 113-72, Sunday in the first of two exhibition games at Cam Henderson Center.
“Davis & Elkins played hard. They spread the floor like we do,” Herd coach Dan D’Antoni said. “It was a test to see if our big men could stay in front of their people. Our shot selection has to get better. We’ve got to cut down on threes we gave up in rotation. Hopefully they made us better. Hopefully we made them better.”
Davis & Elkins is Division II and a member of the Mountain East Conference.
Kyle Braun, one of the Marshall freshmen, enjoyed seeing a different opponent along with the 2,567 fans on hand. He went 4-of-4 from the field, including 2-of-2 from three-point range, and had six rebounds as D’Antoni got extended looks at everyone.
“It’s just a good feeling to get to play a real game, see some new players,” Braun said. “We’ve got a bunch to learn as freshmen, certain things to figure out. We all know what we’re good at. Work to be unselfish. We’re getting comfortable.”
D’Antoni enjoyed watching Braun.
“Kyle’s going to be a good player,” D’Antoni said. “His quickness. He has the same speed as Andy (point guard Andy Taylor). We don’t lose tempo with him. He’s still a freshman.”
D’Antoni will try to iron out the kinks this week as the Herd prepares for next Sunday’s exhibition against Pikeville. Tipoff is 2 p.m.
“Too many open threes,” D’Antoni said of the Senators getting free. “Man-to-man type of defense this team can do. Zone, got a lot of holes in it. We’ll keep working on it.”
Braun nailed a three-pointer with 12:56 left in the first half to put Marshall ahead to stay at 9-8. The Senators did draw to within 23-18 on a trey by Evan Busby with 8:24 to go. Taylor countered with a three with 8:10 remaining in the half for 26-18 lead and the margin grew to 51-35 by halftime and continued to swell in the second half.
Busby and Cortney Walton led Davis & Elkins with 15 points each. Sam Rolle IV got 11. The Senators turned the ball over 24 times and Herd netted 31 points off turnovers.
Braun said the Herd must come out strong from the start.
“We’ll try to get after teams early,” he said. “Show them we’re not playing around, we’re here to win. Send a statement. As soon as we figure that out, the better we’ll be.”
David Early led Marshall with 17 points and Taylor added 13. Obinna Anocchi-Killen finished with 11 and Marko Sarenac, Taevion Kinsey and Braun with 10 each.
“David’s got a big body, he can score,” D’Antoni said. “We’ve got a lot of players to sift through. Who’s got chemistry on the floor and not lose that chemistry when we sub. That will be a little bit of a challenge all year. The kids are unselfish, play hard. We’ve got a long road. By the end of it we can be really good.”
Marshall will open the regular season Nov. 12 at home against Wright State. The roster features 11 returnees and the five freshmen. The Herd went 15-7 last season and lost in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament.