— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall’s Mikal Dawson and Obinna Anochili-Killen performed as expected. On the flip side, Jalen Speer missed all 10 of his shots, Nate Martin was scoreless and Dezayne Mingo didn’t take the floor due to illness. It added up to a 73-59 loss the Herd’s last time out at Elon.
On Thursday night, Dawson scored just five points and Martin only two. Yet Marshall was able to hold off Texas State, 77-71, in its Sun Belt Conference home opener in front of 3,694 fans at Cam Henderson Center.
How you ask?
Mingo charged back with a game-high 23 points to go with five rebounds and five assists. Anochili-Killen responded with 19 points, six rebounds and six blocked shots, while Speer finished with 13 points and three of the team’s four three-pointers.
The Herd also benefited from the play of Jakob and Cade Gibbs and Ryan Nutter.
“We have several guys who stepped up,” first-year Herd coach Corny Jackson said. “The Gibbs brothers, Ryan. I know when guys don’t make shots, it doesn’t look good. Jalen’s 0 for 10 and you turn your back. Nate’s whatever. Nate kept going. I believe in him, Jalen, Dezayne. Never turn your back on open shots. As long as they’re quality shots, keep taking them. I’m happy we came out on the winning end.”
Marshall is 8-7 and 1-1 in Sun Belt play, while Texas State is 8-6 and 1-1 in the SBC.
The Herd is 8-1 at home and 0-6 on the road. In almost all those setbacks, Jackson watched his team claw back, get close or even, then come up short in crucial moments while the home team capitalized.
“The importance of being tough,” Jackson said. “Goals were stop transition, don’t get out toughed and keep them off the glass (Herd had 37-30 edge in rebounds). We did a pretty good job of that. At Elon, and other times, we’d get four, five, six stops in a row and not convert at the other end. You can stop them only so often. That’s how they stretched it out. We did a better job at it tonight.”
The Herd’s biggest lead came at 27-11 on a Mingo jumper with 8:21 left in the opening half. The Bobcats got within eight (60-52) with 7 minutes to play, but the Herd made the plays to deny the Bobcats a rally. Mingo’s 3-point play with 4:52 left restored the lead to 12 at 64-52.
“It means a lot,” Mingo said of his performance. “I was out the game before and it’s tough not to play. It’s about being there and helping. We weren’t happy with the first half (at Southern Miss, 68-66 loss). We didn’t play as tough as we can. We made sure to do that tonight. Be complete. A couple of times down the stretch, things didn’t go our way. Tonight we made the plays.”
For almost all the second half, Martin and Dawson stayed on the bench. Martin logged 22:36 and Dawson 19:56. Jackson had his reasons for that move.
“A lot of the other guys were playing pretty well,” Jackson said. “Went with my gut. Kept those guys on the floor. We had a good flow going. We have several guys who step up and contribute any way they can.
“We beat a good Texas State team. We defended better. That’s the first time in that situation we close out a game. Stick to the process. We’ll be better the next time we face that challenge. The first conference win (as the Herd’s head coach) … it hasn’t sunk in yet. Go home, decompress for 30 minutes and start on Troy. My dream’s come true to be here at get this win.”
Anochili-Killen is Marshall’s all-time leader in blocked shots with 213 after the six Thursday.
“We’re just trying to win games,” Anochili-Killen said. “In situations like this, the team needs me to make plays and that’s what I did. I’ve been doing this ever since I’ve been here. Dezayne … great on the pick-and-roll, 1-on-1. We need that guy to put pressure on the defense. That’s why they recruited him here. We’ve got to get in the right mind. We do it (get stops in practice). We brought it down to the floor and executed tonight.”
Marshall’s next game is Saturday at home against Troy. Start time is 4 p.m.
Troy won at Appalachian State, 69-60, Thursday night to improve to 9-4 and 2-0 in the SBC.
“It’s going to be the same type game,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to bring it every night out.”