CHARLESTON, S.C. – Marshall men’s basketball (3-0) heads into South Carolina and takes down the College of Charleston, 84-72, on Wednesday night at TD Arena. The Herd has won back-to-back non-conference road games for the first time since 2011.
“It was a little bit like Wright State,” Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni said after the win. “We got ahead of them (College of Charleston) in the first half, tied us, and made another run at the end. It’s been like that with Jannson, Goran and Darius.
“We just have great competitors. We had that early run in the first half and middle of the second half. Just tough kids that play hard and want to win. Next game, it could be totally different. We’re looking forward to next week being at home.”
Jannson Williams caught fire in the win making 6-of-11 from the field, going 4-of-8 from behind-the-arc and making 3-of-4 from the free-throw line for 19 points. The redshirt senior also grabbed four rebounds, rejected a pair of shots and had a steal.
Senior Jarrod West also poured 19 points into the basket shooting 7-for-10 from the field on the night, including a perfect 4-for-4 on three-point attempts. The Clarksburg, W.Va., native also dished out five assists in the win.
Taevion Kinsey fell one assist shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine assists on the night.
Darius George rounded out a quartet of MU student-athletes in double-figure scoring with 11 points. The senior forward also brought down a team-high eight boards.
Williams wasted no time getting Marshall on the board as he hit the opening shot for three 14 seconds into the game.
The two sides then traded baskets, including a pair of threes by each team, with West nailing both of the Herd’s shots from behind-the-arc, to have MU on top 16-14 with 14:06 on the clock at the first media timeout.
After a George made free throw, and a tying three by the Cougars, Goran Miladinovic banked home the first triple of his career to put MU back up 20-17 with 11:35 left in the first half.
Charleston tied the contest at 24-24 with 8:08 left in the opening stanza. However, the Herd didn’t want the Cougars to stay in the game as it went on a 16-2 run, led by seven points from Williams, and three each from Kinsey, Mikel Beyers and Marko Sarenac to lead 40-26.
College of Charleston then answered with a 14-0 run from the 4:12 mark to 1:34 to knot the game at 40. Both teams scored three points each in the final 1:30 of the half, with Williams scoring all three for MU, as the teams entered the half at a 43-43 tie.
Williams scored 13 points going 4-for-5 from the field, 2-for-2 from three-point range and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line in the first half.
The Cougars began the second half with a three, but Williams picked up where he left off starting and book ending an 8-0 Herd run with a pair of threes to go up 51-46 two minutes into the final half.
Despite going up five, College of Charleston wasn’t ready to go away. It answered with an 11-2 run to go up four, 57-53, with 15 minutes left.
That was the last of the success for the Cougar offense as the Herd kicked it up a notch on offense and defense to end the game.
The Green and White ended the contest outscoring the opposition 31-15 in the final 15 minutes of the game.
MU’s 22-3 run from 12:10-5:44, pushed its lead to 18 points, 80-62, the largest for either side in the game.