By CODY LINN

Marshall Athletics

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Second-half comeback sends the Marshall University men’s basketball team (15-4, 4-2 Sun Belt) past the Old Dominion Monarchs (10-8, 2-4 Sun Belt), 73-65, on Saturday night in the Cam Henderson Center. 

 Taevion Kinsey tallied 24 points in the contest to bring his career total to 2,338 and pass John Taft’s 2,332 for third most in program history in front of a sellout crowd of 5,719 fans. 

 “Shout out to the student section the last two nights, you guys came out, and shout out to our fans. Y’all have always been loyal to us,” Kinsey said about the crowd’s support the last two nights. “We couldn’t have gotten this far and our record would not have been this good without you guys. I appreciate y’all coming out another night. At halftime we were down by three. Once we started getting buckets and the crowd started getting loud, that changed everything.” 

 Down by three at the end of the first half, 37-34, MU had some adjustments to make at the break. After ODU made the first basket of the second half, Marshall kicked it into high gear. 

 Kinsey came down the court and hit a jumper. Kamdyn Curfman then took a pass from Andrew Taylor and drained a three to tie the contest, 39-39, with one of his six makes from beyond the arc. Curfman finished with a season-high 18 points. 

 A slam by Micah Handlogten and four more points from Kinsey ended a 10-0 run seeing the Herd grab a 45-39 lead at the 14:34 mark as MU didn’t trail the rest of the way. 

 Obinna Anochilli-Killen and Kinsey then combined for an 8-0 advantage from 6:21 to 5:12 to extend the home side’s lead to 10, 64-54, for Marshall’s largest lead of the contest. 

 Taylor finished with 19 points in the victory while Kinsey dished out a game-high eight assists. 

 Notes 

Tonight was MU’s first victory of the season when trailing at halftime and its first win when an opponent made 50 percent or more of its shots from the field. 

 Kinsey registered his 12th game this season with at least 20 points and his eighth game with at least 20 or more points and 5 or more assists, including four straight.  

 Curfman made six three-pointers to tie a career-high which he last achieved on January 20, 2022, at Samford while playing for VMI. 

 Kinsey and Taylor have scored 10 or more points in all 19 games this season. 

 UP NEXT 

The Herd hits road as it travels to San Marcos, Texas, for a matchup against the Texas State Bobcats on Thursday night. Opening tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST.