First and Ben

 By Ben Anderson      A terrific season of hoops for the Marshall Thundering Herd’s men’s basketball teams comes down to Friday night when it welcomes the Georgia Southern Eagles with a chance to claim the top seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.      The Herd is currently in a four-way tie for first place in the league with Appalachian State, Troy, and South Alabama with a record of 19-11 (11-6). The Herd has a 2-0 advantage over App State, a 1-0 advantage over South Alabama and a loss against Troy.       Marshall earned its chance for the regular season crown on Tuesday night when it took down the Old Dominion Monarchs 97-88 at the Cam Henderson Center.       Marshall shot lights out from the field in the contest, shooting a season-best 59.7 percent from the field with four players scoring at least 18 points. Fricks led the way with 28 points on 12-for-17 shooting including 2-for-6 from behind the arc an...

 By Ben Anderson      The long-awaited Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championships has finally arrived for the Marshall Thundering Herd Track & Field team. Last season, the Thundering Herd made plenty of noise with four gold medals coming from the talents of the most decorated athlete in program history Kylee Mastin, along with two silver medals, and two bronze medals. Senior thrower Markayla Moore said that the team attitude that Director Keith Roberts pushes for is what leads to the team’s success.      I think he's really big on making sure we know to not count yourself out,” Moore said in an interview with First & Ben. “Like remember who you are and bring the energy, bring the cheers. He always says, maybe if you didn't do what you wanted to do in your event, go cheer on somebody else so they can do it.”      Moore, has been on a tear for the Thundering Herd this season, having the 2nd-best mark in the Sun Belt Conference and 2n...

 By Ben Anderson      Tomorrow night, Marshall women’s basketball welcomes the Georgia State Panthers to the Cam Henderson Center in a contest honoring Black History Month.      The Thundering Herd has been on a tear as of late, winning its last three games against the likes of Central Michigan, South Alabama, and Louisiana. The Panthers are the opposite entering the matchup, as its sitting on a four-game skid with losses to Troy, Arkansas State, Texas State, and ULM.      Marshall, in its win 88-81 victory on the road in Mount Pleasant, Michigan against the Central Michigan Chippewas resulted in another historic performance for senior guard Timaya Lewis-Eutsey. Lewis-Eutsey scored 30+ points for the fifth time this season, dropping a career-high 36 points, and 8 steals. She joins Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo as the only players in D1 with 35 points and right steals in a game this season. She is one of six players in NCAA D1 this year to ...

 By Ben Anderson      What started as a dominate outing for Marshall women’s basketball against the Troy Trojans on Wednesday night ended in an 85-82 heartbreaker.      The Thundering Herd dominated the Trojans in the first half taking a 20-point lead entering the locker room. Timaya Lewis-Eutsey was at the center of the Herd’s attack against the fast-paced Trojans, tallying 19 points in the first half.       The Trojans entered the contest as the best rebounding team in all of NCAA Division I, and that was the dynamite that lifted the Trojans to outscoring the Herd 53-30 after the intermission, outrebounding Marshall 51-31, including 23 offensive rebounds. Marshall head women’s basketball coach Juli Fulks said that she was pleased with the team’s effort but there are things that she needs to fix on the coaching end.       “In the first half, we expended a ton of energy keeping them off the boards, and then we di...

By Ben Anderson      Despite the winter storm Fern making its rounds across the east coast, the Marshall Thundering Herd welcomes the Troy Trojans to the Cam Henderson Center on Wednesday night in a battle of top four teams in the Sun Belt Conference.      Marshall enters the contest with a 17-5 record and winning eight of its first 10 games in league play to sit in second place. The Thundering Herd is winners of back-to-back games, after picking up road wins in consecutive days against Southern Miss and ULM.      Troy comes to Huntington with an overall record of 16-4 (7-2) and sitting in fourth place. The Trojans picked up its seventh league victory on Saturday afternoon, picking up a dominate 96-69 victory over the Georgia State Panthers in Troy, Ala.      The contest matches up the best scoring offense against the second-best scoring defense in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans average 84.4 PPG and have a +16.3-scoring m...

 By Ben Anderson      Having a month between meets did not seem to impact the Marshall Track & Field team at the Marshall Alumni Classic this weekend as the Thundering Herd picked up 18 individual victories, and an school-recording breaking performance.       Leading the way for the Thundering Herd was sophomore Wyatt Milhoan, breaking the school record in the Men’s Indoor 300 racing a time of 34.40. Roberts said that Milhoan’s performance is credited to his strive to be the best.      "The real key is his work ethic,” Roberts said. “Like the work he puts in the workouts, how hard he runs. He always hits the times that he’s supposed to. But we always work a lot on technique and positions coming out of the block, making sure you’re pushing the proper way.”      The Thundering Herd came into the meet coming off breaking three school records at the Marshall Opener in December. Roberts said that the team’s success des...