— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall made a switch on defense to cool off hot-shooting James Madison. Then, the Thundering Herd did the work down the stretch and came through this time.
Trailing 65-56 with 7:14 to play, Marshall outscored the Dukes 21-7 the rest of the way to pull out a 77-72 win in front of a season-high crowd of 4,336 fans at Cam Henderson Center.
In that run, Noah Outshudi (9) and fellow guard Jalen Speer (8) combined for 17 points.
“It’s going to be a game of runs. Proud of the performance of my whole team,” MU head coach Corny Jackson said. “Matt (Van Komen) was big with 13 rebounds and he altered some shots at the rim. Jaylen got a big three and free throw and Noah got to the line and made them.
“The fans were awesome. Great crowd and they got into it. You don’t have home-court advantage if you don’t have the fans. Our fans are the best in the Sun Belt. They gave us an extra boost. It was alumni weekend and we have several former players back home. Good to see those guys back and the smiles on their faces. They came into the locker room. Reliving what they did and we understand that. We are sitting on their shoulders. A special win today.”
Dukes guard Cliff Davis, second in the Sun Belt Conference in three-point shooting, connected on five straight threes and Preston Fowler one for a 51-45 lead and JMU (9-10, 2-5) was still on top 60-50 at the 10:42 mark.
Wilson Dubinsky hit a two with 6:49 left to start the Herd’s closing surge. Along the way, the once red-hot Dukes either missed shots or turned the ball over. A Speer layup at 6:02 cut the deficit to 65-60. Otshudi made two free throws at 5:24 and followed with two more free throws with 5:01 left to make it a one-point game.
The Herd (12-7, 4-3) got even at 65 when Otshudi hit one of two free throws with 4:28 on the clock. Wyatt Fricks then canned two foul shots to put Marshall ahead 67-65 at 3:45. At that point, the Dukes had made just 1 of their 10 previous shots.
Fowler ended the James Madison drought with a three at 3:25 to put his team ahead 68-67. Speer followed with two foul shots at 3:14 to put the Herd in front to stay (69-68). After forcing a shot-clock violation, Otshudi responded with a reverse layup at 2:33 for a 71-68 advantage. The Dukes hung tough and got a goal at 2:12 by Bradley Douglass to again trail by one (71-70). Then Speer responded with a wing three, drew a foul and hit the free throw for a 75-70 advantage.
Christian Brown would make a three for the Dukes at 34.1, but Otshudi canned two free throws with 22 seconds on the clock to set the final score.
Speer led Marshall with 22 points, Otshudi with 17 and Wyatt Fricks 13.
Davis, helped by season-high six threes all in the second half, paced JMU in scoring with 20. Douglass netted 15 and Fowler, who made his first collegiate start, grabbed a career-best 10 boards.
Jackson said a tip he received from Herd soccer coach Chris Grassie prompted the defensive switch. Grassie advised Jackson to keep a journal after every game and go over it.
“I looked at the staff and said 22. Which is a two-two-one and it really worked for us,” Jackson said. “I reminded myself I write a journal after every game. That way refer to it, good or bad, I know not to make the same mistake twice. I read through my journal for two days straight. It had clearly been in the journal 22 to 23. For whatever reason I didn’t listen. They had just got in a rhythm. Then I just went with my gut and made the call. These guys made the plays. They executed and that’s what got us back into the game. I thought we really flipped the game. Knocked down some free throws and showed some toughness.”
When the Herd forced that shot clock violation, the most excited person in the Cam probably was Jackson who was jumping up and down on the sideline. Then came the Otshudi basket on the reverse layup.
“I was just excited for those guys because I know the work they put in,” Jackson said. “I’m thinking what can we do to stop it. Good teams make runs. You have to give them (Dukes) credit. It’s hard to come in day in and day out. We push them to the limits. We challenged them. I knew they wanted this win bad. We had dropped two straight. We’ve got to stick with the process and keep getting better. We can’t take our foot off the gas. I want this to be one of the hottest tickets, if not the hottest, in town every time we play. We have to do our part. We understand that.”
Otshudi said he took what was there on that layup drive.
“I realized what they were doing,” he said. “I realized the guy they gave me. The second time the same thing. Somebody should go all the say. I turned it on and had it.”
When Speer hit the three, he went to the floor on the foul. He sat that there and soaked in the cheers from the green-clad Herd faithful.
“That’s why I came to Marshall,” Speer said. “My previous school there ain’t nobody up there. I look up in the crowd, see everybody in green showing their love.”
Van Komen, the 7-foot-4 transfer from Elon, is the Sun Belt’s leader in blocked shots with 43 after recording three Saturday.
Marshall continues its four-game home stand Thursday when UL Monroe visits at 7 p.m.