Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Friday, February 12
Huntington, WV
5:00 PM
Middle Tennessee
-512, 38 CUSA
79
at
107
Marshall
-115, 54 CUSA
1
2
F
Middle Tennessee
37
42
79
Marshall
45
62
107
Thundering Herd races past Raiders in Huntington
2/12/2021 7:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – A hot start in Huntington looked promising for the Blue Raiders Friday evening, but they could only keep up with the lightning fast pace of Marshall for so long before The Herd took control in just their second conference home game of 2021 to protect their home court by a score of 107-79.
The Blue Raiders (5-12, 3-8) couldn't miss in the early going, hitting seven of their first nine field goal attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers, to start the game on a 14-0 run and quickly opened up a 17-2 lead before Marshall's offense began to settle in after scoring just one basket in the first six minutes.
As The Herd (11-5, 5-4) began to get into their up-tempo rhythm, they couldn't slow Middle Tennessee from connecting on five of its first nine trifectas to pour in 28 points in the first 10 minutes of the opening half.
That's when the scoring hit a road block for the Blue Raiders. A 4-minute scoring drought for MT in which Marshall reeled off a 13-0 run leveled the score at 28 apiece with 6:15 to go before the break.
"I thought we came out of the locker room really ready to play on both ends," Head Coach Nick McDevitt said. "We got off to a hot start on the offensive end for sure, but a lot of that was predicated on our defense. We had nine or 10 stops in a row to start the game.
"Once they started scoring we just lost some of that intensity on both ends, and when a team that good starts seeing the ball go in its hard to slow them back down."
The Herd took its first lead of the game on a dunk by NBA prospect Taevion Kinsey just two minutes later, and the energized crowd inside the Cam Henderson Center carried the Herd through the remainder of the half and into the locker room with an 8-point lead after trailing by as many as 15.
Jalen Jordan led the offensive attack with four of MT's six first half 3-pointers and a game-leading 14 points, but only Jordan Davis was able to tack on more than a few with his eight.
Up 45-37 with six different guys chipping in five points or more in the first half, Marshall picked up right where it left off after halftime as Andrew Taylor got to the basket with ease to take the Herd lead into double digits.
Through the first six minutes of the second half the Raiders managed to keep Marshall within reach at 59-49, but a quick 5-0 run by The Herd then forced a timeout by McDevitt as his team the faced its largest deficit to that point.
Middle Tennessee continued to attempt to make up the difference on the perimeter, as the Blue Raider guards accounted for 33 of MT's 42 second half points while 26 of the 42 came from jump shots.
The 42-point second half, MT's second-highest point total in a half this season, wouldn't come close to matching Marshall's 62 second half points, though.
"One of the areas that they're not as good is in defensive transition, and we didn't take advantage of that the way we are capable of," McDevitt added. "The danger of that is they get you into a track meet, which is exactly what they want. Their pace made us start playing at their pace and shooting early, but we weren't making it and that puts the ball right back in their hands running the other way."
Jordan finished the night with a season-high 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting with a 5 for 8 mark from 3-point range. Davis pitched in 13 while Eli Lawrence provided 10 points off the bench in a contest where all 10 Raiders that saw the court made it into the scoring column.
MT's defense will need to make vast improvements quickly after allowing Marshall to shoot 59 percent from the field and 56 percent from beyond the arc with four different players scoring 15 points or more.
The Blue Raiders and Herd are back at it on Saturday, with game two set for a 3:00 p.m. CT tip-off inside the Cam Henderson Center.
The Blue Raiders (5-12, 3-8) couldn't miss in the early going, hitting seven of their first nine field goal attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers, to start the game on a 14-0 run and quickly opened up a 17-2 lead before Marshall's offense began to settle in after scoring just one basket in the first six minutes.
As The Herd (11-5, 5-4) began to get into their up-tempo rhythm, they couldn't slow Middle Tennessee from connecting on five of its first nine trifectas to pour in 28 points in the first 10 minutes of the opening half.
That's when the scoring hit a road block for the Blue Raiders. A 4-minute scoring drought for MT in which Marshall reeled off a 13-0 run leveled the score at 28 apiece with 6:15 to go before the break.
"I thought we came out of the locker room really ready to play on both ends," Head Coach Nick McDevitt said. "We got off to a hot start on the offensive end for sure, but a lot of that was predicated on our defense. We had nine or 10 stops in a row to start the game.
"Once they started scoring we just lost some of that intensity on both ends, and when a team that good starts seeing the ball go in its hard to slow them back down."
The Herd took its first lead of the game on a dunk by NBA prospect Taevion Kinsey just two minutes later, and the energized crowd inside the Cam Henderson Center carried the Herd through the remainder of the half and into the locker room with an 8-point lead after trailing by as many as 15.
Jalen Jordan led the offensive attack with four of MT's six first half 3-pointers and a game-leading 14 points, but only Jordan Davis was able to tack on more than a few with his eight.
Up 45-37 with six different guys chipping in five points or more in the first half, Marshall picked up right where it left off after halftime as Andrew Taylor got to the basket with ease to take the Herd lead into double digits.
Through the first six minutes of the second half the Raiders managed to keep Marshall within reach at 59-49, but a quick 5-0 run by The Herd then forced a timeout by McDevitt as his team the faced its largest deficit to that point.
Middle Tennessee continued to attempt to make up the difference on the perimeter, as the Blue Raider guards accounted for 33 of MT's 42 second half points while 26 of the 42 came from jump shots.
The 42-point second half, MT's second-highest point total in a half this season, wouldn't come close to matching Marshall's 62 second half points, though.
"One of the areas that they're not as good is in defensive transition, and we didn't take advantage of that the way we are capable of," McDevitt added. "The danger of that is they get you into a track meet, which is exactly what they want. Their pace made us start playing at their pace and shooting early, but we weren't making it and that puts the ball right back in their hands running the other way."
Jordan finished the night with a season-high 22 points on 7 of 11 shooting with a 5 for 8 mark from 3-point range. Davis pitched in 13 while Eli Lawrence provided 10 points off the bench in a contest where all 10 Raiders that saw the court made it into the scoring column.
MT's defense will need to make vast improvements quickly after allowing Marshall to shoot 59 percent from the field and 56 percent from beyond the arc with four different players scoring 15 points or more.
The Blue Raiders and Herd are back at it on Saturday, with game two set for a 3:00 p.m. CT tip-off inside the Cam Henderson Center.
Team Stats
MT
MARM
FG%
.435
.592
3FG%
.364
.556
FT%
.500
.667
RB
36
39
TO
10
8
STL
5
6
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
7
3FGM
5
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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