Marshall Men’s Basketball Downs Georgia Southern To Close Out Homestand.

By Ben Anderson

    Marshall men’s basketball on closed out its four game homestand Saturday, with an 81-69 victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles. 

    Marshall led for the more than 37 minutes of the contest, taking the lead at the 17:02 mark in the 1st half with Graduate Student Mikal Dawson connecting on a trifecta to give Marshall an 8-6 lead.

    Dawson made five 3-pointers for the sixth time this season, as Marshall shot 10 for 26 from behind the arc. 

    “I feel like it can get really easy,” Dawson said during the postgame news conference. “As soon as I see like one or two go in, I start to feel pretty good. I feel ike my teammates also trust me, to get the ball to me, and just find me whenever I’m open. They trust me to knock the shot down.”

    Graduate Student, Jalen Speer, scored the first points for Marshall on his eighth consecutive make from downtown, and Dawson drilled two of his own in a 9-0 run.

    “Early on in the season we struggled with that,” Dawson said. “Just being able to shoot the ball, and we talk to each other and give each other confidence to be able to shoot the ball. We knew eventually our shots were going to fall and now that they (shots) are starting to fall I think we’re going to be a very dangerous team.”

    “One of our emphases (was) to get out, run in transition, kick the ball ahead,” Marshall head coach Cornelius Jackson said in the postgame news conference. “We’ve been spending time on that in practice the last few weeks. These guys execute, and (when) you hit a couple of threes in a row, it can be a huge game changer.”

    Speer converted his third shot from downtown and his 10th straight without a miss to give Marshall an 18-16 lead with 8:06 remaining in the second half.

    Georgia Southern entered the contest averaging 28 3-point attempts per game and shot 5-of-16. Eugene Brown made the Eagles’ first triple with 5:48 remaining in the first half trailing 36-23.

    “They’re a fast-paced team that likes to get out in transition,” Dawson said. “We focused on that it our one-day prep. I think we executed that, big time.”

    “We really focused on it,” Jackson said. “Our three main focuses were take away the three ball, offensive rebounding, and transition points. I thought we executed the gameplan well.” 

    Marshall held Georgia Southern to eight offensive rebounds, and four transition points.

    Marshall had 3 double-digit scorers with Dawson leading the team in scoring with 21 points.  Junior Dezayne Mingo scoring 17 while going 6 of 9 from the field. Senior Nate Martin earned his second double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds. 

    “It felt pretty good,” Nate Martin said during the postgame news conference. “I knew with Obinna out, all of us were going to have to step up. He’s a huge piece for us. I think we all definitely stepped up in a big way, and dominated from start to finish.”

    Marshall was without Graduate Student Forward Obinna Anochili-Killen, who suffered an ankle injury in Thursday’s win against James Madison.

    “Another great team, especially without Obinna,” Jackson said. “He’s a major part of our program. Our other guys stepped up. The beauty of these guys is they didn’t flinch.”

    Marshall outscored the Eagles in both halves, 45-35 in the first, 36-34 in the second.

    Georgia Southern went on a 7-0 run late to get within 11, but Mingo would hit a slam dunk to seal the win. Marshall never trailed in the second half.

    The Eagles were led by Nakavieo White’s 22 points. 

    Marshall improved to 10-8 (3-2), and now sit in a six-way tie for second place in the Sun Belt Conference behind South Alabama, and Old Dominion. 

    Marshall starts a four-game road stretch on Thursday, in Harrisonburg Virginia against the James Madison Dukes. Marshall is 0-6 on the road.

    “I feel like we can execute our game plans,” Dawson said. “Our coaches will have us ready for the road games, so it will be about transitioning the wins to away games. I feel like we can get this one.”