By CODY LINN
Marshall Athletics
HUNTINGTON – The Marshall University men's basketball team (22-6, 11-4 Sun Belt) overcame an 11-point deficit in the final 1:36 in an 84-83 comeback win over the Georgia Southern Eagles (14-14, 7-8 Sun Belt) on Thursday at the Cam Henderson Center.
"I thought we managed the game towards the end the way it should be managed," Herd men's basketball head coach Dan D'Antoni said. "Our players did a good job with that. Then Andy makes that one key drive and throws up one of those (driving hooks/layups)."
Despite trailing by 11, 79-68, with 1:36 remaining and as many as 12, Marshall rallied to trail by just three, 83-80, with 33 ticks on the clock. The Herd rushed the inbounds pass up the court, as Taevion Kinsey drove to the hoop for a layup, giving him 25 for the contest, to make it 83-82 four seconds later.
On the ensuing Georgia Southern possession, Micah Handlogten forced a turnover off Derrick Harris Jr.'s leg to give MU the ball back with 25 seconds remaining. It was the freshman's game-high fourth steal of the contest. Andrew Taylor took the inbounds pass and dribbled up the court. The Corbin, Kentucky, native cruised into the lane and made the layup to give Marshall its first lead, 84-83, since the 5:22 mark with 14 seconds on the scoreboard. It was Taylor's final two points of a game-high 28-point effort.
"I think staying level headed was a key part for a lot of us. We moved the ball more in the second half and we were getting the shots we wanted," Taylor said about the comeback victory.
The Eagles brought the ball up the court. However, with Kamdyn Curfman pressuring GS's Andrei Savrasov, Savrasov lost the ball with Curfman combing with Obinna Anochili-Killen to come up with the ball and seal the comeback win as time expired.
The Herd scored 16 of the final 20 points in the contest, including a 10-0 run started by an Anochili-Killen and-one and concluded by a Curfman triple in the right corner with 45 seconds to go.
Marshall forced five Georgia Southern turnovers in the final 1:18 with the home side scoring nine points off those turnovers.
Kinsey made nine of his 12 attempts from the field to go with five rebounds as Taylor had a game-high four assists.
Notes
The 22 regular-season wins are the most during the D'Antoni era.
Kinsey and Taylor each scored 25 or more points for the second consecutive game. Kinsey notched his 17th game of the season of 20 or more points as Taylor recorded his 12th such game this season.
Tonight marked the first time this season the Herd came back when trailing in the final five minutes of the contest.
It was the second time this season the Herd rallied while trailing at halftime with the other contest being against Old Dominion on January 14.
UP NEXT
The Herd hosts the Troy Trojans at 7 p.m. on Saturday for Senior Day.
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