Marshall edges Jackson State, 71-61
Marshall's two seniors didn't have the best night of their
But, despite the uncharacteristically poor
It was the type of slowed down defensive minded game Marshall would have lost last season when the Herd was 0-7 in games when it scored less than 75 points.
"They held the ball," Dantoni said. "They held it and let it run down to 12 seconds or less every possession. They wanted to play
Jackson State led Marshall 35-34 at halftime thanks to the hot shooting of Paris Collins and Edric Dennis, a guard combo that terrorized the Herd defense inside and out as Dennis finished around the rim on several of his nine field goals while Collins provided the long ball connecting on five of eight threes. The pair finished 21 and 20 points respectively, but no other Tiger scored more than eight and the Herd bench outgunned Jackson State's in 21-8.
The lead changed several times as both teams struggled to pull away until Marshall managed to grab a nine-point lead with 6:40 remaining in the ball game. The lead would be short-lived however as Taylor would be whistled for his fourth foul on the Tigers ensuing possession. Unhappy with the call Taylor voiced his frustrations to the officials and was saddled with a pair of technical fouls to give the senior the unwanted distinction of registering six fouls. In college players are disqualified after five and Jackson State converted the
However, that would be as close as the Tigers would get the rest of the way thanks to a couple of nifty buckets from Allison and a pair of clutch
Thompson poured in 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to pace the Marshall starters while Elmore added 20 of his own to go with seven assists. The junior guard did have seven turnovers, however, in a sloppy game for Herd ball handlers as Marshall turned it over 16 times on the night.
The Herd will now hit the road for the first time this season traveling to Ohio State to take on a Buckeyes team that is currently 4-0 after defeating Western