— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall chalked up the anticipated lopsided win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a Thursday matinee at Cam Henderson Center. It just took a little longer than perhaps expected.
Trailing 37-35 at halftime, the Thundering Herd pulled away and then some over the latter 20 minutes to record a 98-70 victory in front 3,373 fans. The game was moved up 3 hours earlier in the week to avoid conflict with Marshall’s men’s soccer NCAA Tournament game against Cleveland State.
The home team outscored the visitors by 30 in the final 20 minutes.
Caleb Hollenbeck, displaying marksmanship from long range, popped in 23 points to lead Marshall and Jalen Speer scored 18 and flirted with a triple double as he added 10 assists to go with eight rebounds. Hollenbeck finished 8 of 9 from the field, including 7 of 8 on three-pointers.
In the first half, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-7) didn’t perform like a winless team.
The Golden Lions scored the first seven points for a 7-0 lead about 2:30 into the game.
With 2:47 left in the half the Golden Lions took their biggest lead at 37-28 on a putback by Quion Williams.
Marshall (4-1) would follow with seven straight points to get within 37-35 at the half. Drew Fuquay had a dunk, Noah Otshudi made a layup, Van Komen followed with a layup and Eric Harding sank 1-of-2 free throws to complete the surge that drew the home team to within one possession.
Van Komen started the second half with two baskets and a free throw to put Marshall up, 40-37. Shortly after, Speer later nailed two threes to increase the lead to 51-40.
The lead stayed in double digits virtually the rest of the game.
At the 10:40 mark, Marshall had made 10-of-15 second-half hots, 4 of 6 from three and 6-of-6 free throws. The Golden Lions endured a stretch of two field goals over 11 shots and no baskets for nearly 6 minutes.
Hollenbeck drained a three at 7:25 to up the lead to 72-53. It was his fifth in six tries. He added another three moments later to make it a 20-point margin t 75-55.
For the entirely of the second half, Marshall made 22-of-32 shots, 9 of 12 from three and all 10 of its free throws.
Marshall, averaging 20.5 assists per game, finished with 22.
Marshall’s Matt Van Komen, the 7-foot-4 transfer from Elon, added 15 points.
Scott paced Arkansas-Pine Bluff with 23 points. Williams contributed 17 points, Charles Milhan 12 and Alex Mirhosseini 11 for the Golden Lions.
This was Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s seventh straight road game. They play 11 in a row on the road to start the season.
This was the first meeting between the two teams.