— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Jalen Speer and Noah Otshudi made the key plays over the final 6 minutes to allow Marshall, once up by 17 points early in the second half, to turn back a hard charge from Appalachian State and prevail, 88-81, in a Sun Belt Conference matinee Saturday in front of 3,933 fans at Cam Henderson Center.
“I’ve been coaching 25 years. Never seen a coach win a game,” Thundering Herd Corny Jackson said in closing his postgame interview. “I’ve never seen a coach go out there and make a three. I’ve never seen a coach make a free throw. I’ve never seen a coach get to mid-lane and pull up for two.
“Now we can put you in position. Ultimately these guys right here have to execute. That was a big three Jalen hit. A huge play. Noah hit going left. A huge play. That’s what we need if we want to win, take this where we want to take it. We need the guys to make the winning plays consistently. Once we do that, we can play with anyone.”
With 15:47 left, Marshall (10-5, 2-1 Sun Belt) led 54-37. From that point on, it was comeback time for the Mountaineers (9-7, 2-2).
Otshudi hit that shot across the lane with 5:21 left to restore the lead to five (70-65). After two free throws by Appalachian State’s Luke Wilson, Speer drained a three with 4:15 to go to put the Herd up six (73-67).
The Mountaineers, despite shooting 17 of 31 at the foul line, hung in and cut the deficit to 77-75 on two free throws by Michael Marcus Jr. with 1:59 left. Then Otshudi made a jumper, Speer a three and Landen Joseph two free throws with 39 seconds left for a 7-0 run and 84-75 cushion. Speer and Otshudi each sank two free throws in the closing seconds to set the final score.
Of its final seven shots, the Herd made five. Marshall was 12 for 24 on threes and shot 53 percent for the game, while recording the most points against the Mountaineers of any team this season. Appalachian State entered allowing 68 points on average and had held the opposition to 60 or fewer points on seven occasions.
“They’re a tough team. Coach had that emphasis from the beginning of the week,” Speer said. “We knew they were going to fight through a whole game. The first half I felt like we punched them in the mouth. We kind of laid back at the break. They came back. That’s what good teams do. Just being more consistent in my overall play, especially when my team needs me to step up. Those guys are looking to me to make shots like that. I have to make sure to respond.”
Injuries and fouls forced Jackson to juggle the lineup often. Matt Van Komen logged 2 minutes and left with a foot injury. Shamarrie Hugie, Erich Harding and Drew Fuquay would foul out. Hugie did score 12 points before his exit.
Speer led with 21 (four threes), Otshudi finished with 16 (7-of-10 shooting) and Wyatt Fricks added 16 points. The Herd, the top team in assists in the SBC, closed with 20 and had just eight turnovers.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Jackson said.
Marshall scored 44 points in each half. The Herd led 44-32 at the break.
“Played a great first half,” Jackson said. “Gave some solid stuff. It’s a learning curve for those guys. We executed on the offensive end. We flew around. The second half I probably played a part in that. I don’t know why. We tried to slow the guys down. Maybe I’ll show how fancy our sets are. We want to get into transition and make great decisions. We play our best basketball when we do that. We want to run, play Marshall basketball.
“We dealt with adversity. Guys stepping into different roles and playing a bit longer than normal. Talked about next man up earlier in the week. Glad we did. We didn’t know Matt was going down. We didn’t know Erich was going to break a record in five minutes (five fouls) We have big time trust in all our guys. Guys are playing, other guys are sitting on the bench. They can play. It’s a number game. Can’t play everybody. They just have some guys in front of them. We preach as a staff be ready.”
Marcus paced the Mountaineers with 21 points. Wilson had 19, Alonzo Dodd 12 and Jason Clarke Jr. 11.
Like Speer, Otshudi said he just did what Jackson wanted.
“We stayed aggressive. Keep my composure, get to my spots and things worked out,” Otshudi said. “It’s about decisions, developing and getting those mid-range jump shots to fall.”
Marshall prepares now for a two-game road trip Wednesday at James Madison and Saturday at Georgia State.