— By David Walsh
South Alabama weathered a three-point assault by Marshall and outscored the Thundering Herd 14-5 in overtime to escape with a 91-82 win in a Sun Belt Conference showdown Thursday night in front of 2,148 fans at the Mitchell Center.
“Credit to them,” first-year Marshall coach Cornelius Jackson said. “They were physically tough, mentally tough the whole way. They made plays. The tougher team won.”
The Jaguars are 17-9, 9-4 in the Sun Belt and in second place in the league. The Herd falls to 15-11, and 8-5 in SBC play.
South Alabama relies on zone defense and watched Marshall unleash a school-record 48 three-point attempts with 14 made. The previous one-game high was 45 attempts in 2018 against Mount St. Marys. This also was the Herd’s first overtime game this season.
Marshall trailed by 10 points at one point in the second half, then ran off 13 straight points to take a 67-64 lead on a three by Dezayne Mingo with 6:25 left. Mingo hit another shot with 4:54 on the clock for a 71-66 advantage to cap a 17-2 run. During this stretch, South Alabama went 4-plus minutes without a point.
The teams would swap leads from that point. South Alabama took a 77-75 advantage on a basket by Elijah Ormiston with 1:22 to play. The Herd then missed its next three shots to tie, but Obinna Anochili-Killen scored on a putback with 12 seconds left to tie the game. Goaltending got called on the play and Anochili-Killen got credit for the basket after review.
In the overtime, the Jaguars broke fast on baskets by Ormiston and JJ Wheat for an 81-77 lead with 4:04 left, and the home squad never trailed again. With 3:11 to play, Nate Martin had a chance to tie the game for the Herd, but made 1-of-2 free throws to cut the deficit to 82-81.
South Alabama ran off nine straight points, including a closing 7-0 charge. Mikal Dawson missed three shots and Marshall shot 0 for 7 down the stretch and endured a scoreless drought of 2:16.
Ormiston paced South Alabama with 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 4 of 4 effort from the foul line. Barry Durning Jr. added 18 points, Myles Corey 17 and Wheat 10.
Anochili-Killen topped Marshall with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting and sat much of the second half with foul trouble. The program’s career leader in blocked shots rejected three as did Wyatt Fricks.
Dawson closed with 18, but went 6 of 17 from three. Mingo had 14 points to go with five assists. Martin pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds.
South Alabama shot 51 percent (31 of 60) and sank 27-of-33 foul shots to 8 of 11 for the visitors.
“We fought hard to take the lead,” Jackson said. “We had tough moments, but we were not the toughest team throughout the whole game. It meant a lot to them the way they celebrated with the fans. We probably took too many threes. I know they play zone, but that’s lot.”
The Herd led in rebounds 42-39 with a 16-6 edge on the offensive glass.
The Jaguars held a 52-20 spread in points in the paint and 15-6 edge on fast-break points.
In the first half, South Alabama’s biggest lead was seven twice at 24-17 and 39-32. Corey hit a jumper with six seconds left to give the Jaguars a 42-36 lead at the break. The home team made 5 of its final 7 shots from the field.
Anochili-Killen led Marshall with 14 points as he converted 6-of-9 shots. He also blocked three shots. Marshall shot 41 percent (14 of 34), but countered with six threes to just one for South Alabama. The Herd knocked down four of its final five shots.
Durning Jr. led the Jaguars with 13 points. Ormiston contributed 10. South Alabama shot 55 percent overall (17 of 31) despite a 1 of 6 mark from behind the arc. The Jaguars enjoyed a 26-8 edge on paint points.
Guard Ryan Nutter returned to action for the Herd and played four minutes.
Marshall’s next game is Saturday against Louisiana in Lafayette. Start time at the Cajundome is 8 p.m.
“We have to put together a whole game,” Jackson said. “We fought back and that shows character. What we have to do is try to be tough all the way through mentally and physically. We’ll watch film and see what we can learn from it.”