— By David Walsh
The night didn’t go the way Marshall wanted.
First, Old Dominion knocked off the Thundering Herd, 71-67, Friday night in front of 6,424 fans on Senior Night at Chartway Arena in Norfolk, Va.
Then Southern Miss won at Texas State, 79-69, to clinch first place in the Sun Belt Conference outright at 14-4, securing at least an automatic NIT bid as well as the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament next week in Pensacola, Fla. And to top it off, Louisiana topped South Alabama, 74-64, to tie Marshall for second at 13-5.
The Rajun’ Cagins get the No. 2 seed in the tournament thanks to a win over Marshall in the regular season. That means Marshall goes in as No. 3 seed and still gets a double bye. The Herd won’t play again until next Saturday.
“They outplayed us,” the Herd’s Taevion Kinsey said. “No excuses. The first half we had a pretty good game. The second half we came out and gave them some confidence. They’re at home, they lead in attendance, it’s just like us being at home. You get rolling. They knocked down some shots. We lost some guys who shoot, didn’t locate our shooters. We didn’t make a lot of shots.”
Old Dominion, which has won nine of its last 11 games, came in off a Wednesday win over Southern Miss at home. The Monarchs (19-11, 11-7 Sun Belt) led 68-61 with 1:52 left on a basket by Mekki Long.
The Herd got within one on a basket by Obinna Anochili-Killen with 1:29 left, two free throws by Anochili-Killen with 57 seconds left and two foul shots by Kinsey with 33 seconds on the clock.
The Herd fouled Chaunce Jenkins with 26 seconds to go and he made both free throws for a 70-67 lead. Marshall still had hope, but a miss by Kinsey with 17 seconds left and a turnover with 9 seconds to go much sealed the outcome.
Imo Essie converted 1-of-2 free throws with seven seconds to ice career win No. 200 for Monarchs’ coach Jeff Jones.
“We didn’t close it well,” Herd coach Dan D’Antoni said. “It wasn’t one of our best ball games. We had a hard time finding shots in half court. They did a great job. Defensively I thought how we were doing would give us the opportunity on offense to win the game. With 14 seconds left we’re down one (actually three) and I can’t explain what happened after that.”
Guard Andrew Taylor led Marshall with 23 points, but shot 8 for 25, including 3 of 10 from three.
(8-of-25 overall and 3-of-10 from three). Kinsey followed with 22 points (5-of-14 shooting, 11-of-14 at the foul line).
Jenkins paced the Monarchs with 23 points. Tyreek Scott-Grayson added 13 points. Long pulled down 13 rebounds.
“I’m glad this happened now,” Kinsey said. “Get it out of the way. Rest up and get a fresh start. The game is more mental. We’ll fix our mistakes and come in with a different focus. We look forward to the tournament.”
Old Dominion dominated other stats as well. The Monarchs led in rebounds, 48-35; offensive rebounds, 17-5; second-chance points, 14-9; points in the paint, 34-20; and fastbreak points, 18-9. The Herd did block eight shots to one for Old Dominion. Micah Handlogten collected four of the Herd’s blocks and Anochiki-Killen three.
“We didn’t put our best game out there,” D’Antoni said. “They did what they’re supposed to do. We never got into a rhythm in ball game. Little mistakes. We’ve got to be better.” Old Dominion gives up 66 points a game.
Marshall finished the regular season 24-7. The only Marshall teams with 24 or more wins in a regular season were coached by Cam Henderson (25 twice, 27 twice). D’Antoni hopes fans take note of that fact.
“That’s the beauty of basketball,” D’Antoni said. “Surely we made great strides from last year with this team. Can’t take away from the kids who were 24-7. That’s a hell of a season. Some say we don’t play (anyone). Greensboro is winning their league, Morehead State is winning their league, two of the top three in the MAC are Akron and Toledo. We did well with them. These kids had a good season. It was not easy. Give our kids credit. They played well enough to be 24-7. A heck of a year.”
Kinsey’s 22 points give him 2,623 for his career. Jon Elmore is the all-time points leader with 2,638.
Southern Miss was picked to finish last on the Sun Belt preseason poll. The Herd was projected sixth.