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Marshall routs UNC-Asheville 88-67

By David Walsh

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – A first half burst gave Marshall the lead for good at halftime, then the Thundering Herd steadily pulled away in the second half to knock off UNC Asheville, 88-67, Tuesday night at Cam Henderson Center.

Marshall trailed late in the first half 29-28, but scored the final seven of the half for a 35-29 lead at the break. It was all Herd after halftime as the lead once reached 30 points (86-56).

Taevion Kinsey led Marshall with 26 points, making 11-of-17 shots from the field.  Mikel Beyers came off the bench for 20 points. Jarrod West added 12.

“Not a surprise. Knew they would give us a test,” Herd coach Dan D’Antoni said of the Bulldogs, picked to finish second this season in the Big South.

“Every team we’ve played has been an in-your-face team. Our shooting is getting to where I thought it should be.”

Marshall shot 18-for-31 from the field (8-of-15 from the three-point line) in the second half and 32-of-62 for the game. The Herd also converted 9-of-10 free throws.

“Great team win. We shared the ball,” said Kinsey, the team’s top scorer. “We were giving it to each other. They’re a good team. We knew they’d run. We played as a collective unit.”

Marshall is 6-1 after non-conference play. The Herd will start Conference USA action on Jan. 1-2 at Louisiana Tech. Format  this year in C-USA is for Friday-Saturday games at the same site. The change was made due to Coronavirus protocols. Western Kentucky was the preseason pick to win C-USA.

“Only one team is below .500 in the conference,” D’Antoni said. “Pre-conference has  been good for us. Gets us ready to play every second.”

UNC Ashesville is 3-4.

Kinsey’s put-back dunk with 4:53 left in the game ended his night and punctuated the way the home team performed the final 20 minutes.

“We’re usually a second-half team,” Kinsey said. “Beyers hit a lot of big threes. We led at the half, no reason to panic. Momentum shifted when we got that run. Hard to come back. I think it shook them a little bit. The weren’t able to come back from it.”

Beyers really enjoyed his night.

“Attribute it to coach Dan (D’Antoni),” Beyers said. “Keep the game simple, don’t try to do too much. See that first shot drop helps the rest of the game.”

Kinsey said the Herd must build from this outing as it prepares for C-USA play.

“We’re known as a nice-scoring team, “ Kinsey said. “This team takes pride in defense. We made correct passes to the correct man at the right time. Great game to end 2020. It’s been a tough year (COVID-19 pandemic). Go into 2021 and win. This left a good taste in our mouth. Amp up as much as we can.”

Tajion Jones led UNC Asheville with 18 points. Trent Stephney added 12 and Coty Judge 11 before he fouled out in the second half. Judge played high school basketball at Tolsia High School.

Marshall won the rebound battle 37-33 and is 6-0 in games it has the edge on the boards. The Bulldogs hit just 27-0f-61 shots from the field and 4-of-12 at the foul line. They had 20 turnovers.

Marshall now leads the all-time series 4-1.