— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall shot the ball fairly well. Charlotte shot better — much better.
The 49ers shot 62 percent from the field (36 of 58), 45 percent from 3-point range (9 of 20) and 18 of 19 at the foul line for 94.7 percent and blew past the Thundering Herd, 99-84, in Conference USA action Saturday night in front of 5,471 fans at Cam Henderson Center.
The Herd’s numbers were 33 of 64 (51.6 percent), 10 of 22 from behind the arc (45.5 percent) and 8 of 9 on free throws (88.9 percent).
Charlotte (14-12, 7-7 C-USA) ended a three-game losing streak and reached a season-high for points in a game. Previous best was 98 against Western Carolina on Dec. 22.
Marshall (10-17, 3-11 C-USA) had its win streak end at two.
The Herd had hoped to notch its first three-game win streak since way back in December, but Charlotte instead pulled a repeat of the first meeting when the 49ers scorched the nets and prevailed, 88-64.
“Sometimes you run into a team that has it all going,” Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni said.
David Early made a three for Marshall with 10:25 left to cut the deficit to eight (74-66). Jahmir Young responded with a jumper with 9:20 left to push the lead back to 10 (76-66) and the 49ers steadily pulled away from that point.
Other factors in Charlotte’s favor were rebounds (33-20 edge), points in the paint (50-36) and the foul line differential.
“What can you say,” the Herd’s Taevion Kinsey said. “Points (in the paint), foul line and rebounds. It’s hard to come back from that. They played a pretty solid game.”
Charlotte had many players contribute. Young led the way with 21 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Aly Khalifa, who is from Egypt, had one of those nights with 20 points (8-of-8 shooting, 4-of-4 from three). He is a C-USA Freshman of the Year candidate. Austin Butler added 17 points, Luka Vasic and Clyde Trapp 11 each and Robert Braswell with 10.
Andrew Taylor led Marshall with 21 points (9 of 14 from the field) and three threes. Kinsey added 17, Mikel Beyers and David Early with 12 each. Early got his on four threes.
“Sometimes a team comes in and has a night,” Early said.
Charlotte had a steady flow on offense. Cuts and passes led to backdoor layups or short shots or drew fouls and the 49ers were comfortable from shooting bombs.
“Charlotte runs it very quick,” D’Antoni said. “They’re very persistent. You can’t get them out of it. They have scorers at every position. They’re really good at cuts and slices. The big kid (Khalifa) is a great passer.”
Marshall has a quick turnaround now. The next game is Monday at Southern Mississippi. Tip is 7 p.m. This is the reschedule from the January 1 game the Golden Eagles had to postpone due to Coronavirus issues with the program.
“Try to clean some things up we did wrong,” Kinsey said. “Respect to them, give it to them. Have to put that behind us and shift to Southern Miss. They’re two different teams.”
Southern Miss is in the cellar in C-USA West at 1-12 (6-16 overall) after the Golden Eagles lost at home to UTEP on Saturday, 84-70.