— By David Walsh
Old Dominion’s first-half effort helped make the delayed Sonny Allen Night a success for the Monarchs in their Conference USA encounter Thursday night against Marshall, which happens to be where Allen went to college.
Old Dominion ran off 19 straight points to go from an 11-all tie with 15:02 left in the first half to a 30-11 advantage with 10:09 on the clock. The pace slowed the second half, but the Monarchs had done enough to carve out the win, 79-64, at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.
That early burst certainly would’ve made Allen, the coach who got credit for devising the fast-break offense, proud since the ODU stop was his first head coaching job in 1965 after five seasons with Marshall.
The Monarchs led at the half, 50-28, to match its one-high of 50 scored on Jan. 13 in a win over UTSA.
“A little bit? A lot more than a little bit,” Herd coach Dan D’Antoni said about the difference in effort in halves for the Thundering Herd (8-14, 1-8 C-USA). “Not an effort. Not there. It’s on them. That’s their job. When you go into battle you’ve got to play. Can’t have that Vince Lombardi talk every game.”
Old Dominion (9-12, 4-4 S-USA) enjoyed its biggest lead at 69-45 with 7:55 left.
“Basically they bullied us,” D’Antoni said. “Got outside of what we do. We got into them in the second half. You’re not going to win games when you don’t play as hard as the other team.”
C.J. Keyser led Old Dominion with 19 points. Austin Trice had a double-double with 17 points and 18 rebounds. Kalu Ezikpe netted 18 points. Mekhi Long helped out on the boards with 13 rebounds. ODU won the board battle, 44-36. The Monarchs enjoyed a wide margin in points in the paint, 38-20.
Obinna Anochili-Killen, who sat some in the first half due to foul trouble, led the Herd with 15 points. Mikel Beyers had 13, but went 2-of-10 from three. Andrew Taylor had 12 and Taevion Kinsey 11.
Kinsey didn’t play on Saturday when Marshall beat UAB, 84-81, in Huntington. He was nursing a foot injury. He did start Thursday night.
Marshall returns to action Saturday at Charlotte. Game time is 4 p.m. The 49ers lost to Western Kentucky, 78-59, Thursday night at home.
D’Antoni said the Herd’s needs to start the way it did in the win over UAB, not what happened Thursday night.
“The first half we weren’t in sync,” D’Antoni said. “Run our stuff, it works. Get away from it things happen. We need better decision making, better efforts. We’ve got a team that can be good.”
Allen coached at Old Dominion from 1965-75 when the Monarchs were NCAA Division II. More than a dozen family members gathered for the occasion. They were recognized at halftime. They’ll be back in late April as Allen will be inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
This event was scheduled last season, but delayed to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and the numerous protocols in place back then.
Allen’s Monarchs won the national title in the 1974-75 season. He later coached at SMU and Nevada and took those teams to the NCAA Tournament. He also coached the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs for three seasons (last was 2001). He passed away Sept. 11, 2020. He was 84.