ODU Sets the Stage But Marshall Steals the Show For Its Sixth Win in CUSA Play

Old Dominion erased an 8-point deficit to Marshall over the game's final four minutes Saturday afternoon at Ted Constant Convocation Center, but the Monarchs could only watch the Herd steal one away in the final seconds.

James Kelly nailed a game-winning, 25-foot 3-pointer with three seconds remaining for a 78-75 victory. Kelly led the Herd with his Conference USA leading 10th double-double, finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds in the win.

In a contest the saw 17 ties and lead changes and ODU's Trey Freeman dropping a career-high 37 points, it would be the Herd that stole the show, picking up its third road win in four outings.

"I thought our guys did a great job of preparing themselves," Marshall head coach Dan D'Antoni said. "This is a tough place to come. Jeff [Jones] does a super job. It's a great venue. I love this arena. But I was proud of our guys. They hung in there tough. I know they've been fighting to get that victory here."

Neither team could gain an edge in the game's opening minutes until the Monarchs 5-0 run gave them a 15-10 lead with 14:55 left in the half. Marshall responded with an 8-2 run sparked by a Kelly triple and a Ryan Taylor layup to regain the lead at 18-17. Taylor finished with 19 points and seven rebounds for the Herd.

Brandon Stith pushed the Monarchs back in front by four, but Jon Elmore's layup tied the contest at 22 just under the midway point of the half. Freeman took over for the Monarchs in the final nine minutes of the half, scoring 14 of his 20 first half points, but ODU couldn't shake the resilient Marshall offense. Back-to-back triples by Taylor and Elmore gave Marshall a 39-38 lead but Freeman stole the lead right back to give ODU a 40-39 edge at the break.

Kelly and Zoran Talley traded buckets to open the game's final 20 minutes and a Ryan Taylor free throw tied the game for the 10th time at 42-42 with 18:38 remaining. A 6-0 run by Freeman gave ODU a 50-44 edge and the Monarchs grabbed their largest lead of the night, 54-47, after Denzell Taylor's layup tumbled into the cylinder with 14:17 to go.

Stevie Browning ignited a Herd charge with a triple and layup to tie the contest at 54-54 with 12:55 left. Over the other over the next six-plus minutes of action,a neither team earned more than a 3-point advantage until Marshall rushed out it to largest lead of the night, 73-65, on a Browning jumper with 4:34 to go.

Browning added 15 points and three assists in the winning effort.

Refusing to go away quietly, ODU used a 10-2 run in the final four minutes to tie the game at 75 after Freeman's final bucket of the night knotted the affair for the 17th time with 31 seconds remaining.

Out of the timeout with nine seconds remaining, Elmore found Kelly off a screen on the left wing and the Miami-transfer buried the long-range jumper for the game's final bucket. Freeman launched a desperation attempt as the buzzer sounded, but the shot was off the mark, securing the win for the Herd.

Elmore rounded out the double-digit scoring for the Herd, netting 13 points and dishing seven assists. Stith had 15 points for the Monarchs and Talley had 10. Denzell Taylor grabbed 13 of ODU's 34 rebounds in the loss.

The win marked the first for the Herd this season when trailing at the half and is the first time its won three of its first four conference road games since 1996-97. Marshall defeated Davidson, Citadel and Georgia Southern before falling to VMI and ETSU.

After spending two weeks away from home, Marshall welcomes Middle Tennessee State to Huntington Thursday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.