By CODY LINN

Marshall Sports Information

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall University men’s basketball team (12-20, 4-14 C-USA) won its first round contest at the 2022 Conference USA Men’s Basketball Tournament, 74-62, over the FIU Panthers (15-17) on Tuesday night in Frisco, Texas. It avenged a pair of losses suffered to the Panthers during the regular season.  

“It was a nice win. Always is in the tournament,” Thundering Herd men’s basketball coach Dan D’Antoni said after the win. “Play one and advance. My good friend Jim Valvano said, ‘survive and advance.’ They beat us twice in the regular season, but I thought we played with a lot more energy than we did during the year.”          

Junior Taevion Kinsey poured in 23 points in the victory. The guard made nine of his 16 shots from the field.  

Freshman Obinna Anochili-Killen collected his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.   

Senior Mikel Beyers added 14 points and redshirt sophomore Andrew Taylor contributed 10. Beyers went 8-for-9 from the charity stripe and Taylor grabbed seven boards.  

Tevin Brewer led the Panthers with 23 points and four assists.  

The Herd started the contest on an 8-0 run with a layup by Taylor and a pair of three-point baskets by Anochili-Killen. A 12-3 streak by Marshall gave it a double-digit lead, 20-9, at the 11:04 mark.  

After trading runs for nearly 10 minutes, FIU scored the final five points in the last 40 seconds of the first half. However, the Herd held a 33-29 lead at the break.  

Marshall came out of halftime on fire, scoring eight of the first 10 points in the final stanza. Kinsey contributed six of those points along with two from Beyers as the Green and White led by 10, 41-31, at the 15:49 mark. 

A 10-0 Herd advantage from 4:45 to 2:11 produced its largest lead of the game at 18 points, 70-52. FIU scored seven of the next eight points, but Marshall held off the Panthers down the stretch for a 12-point victory.  

NOTES             

Marshall has won six of its last seven contests to open the C-USA Tournament.   

The Herd made a three in its 1002nd consecutive game, with the last contest without a triple occurring on Feb. 27, 1989, in a win over App State.          

Kinsey has scored 10 or more points in 63 of his last 64 games. The Columbus, Ohio, native has had 16 games of 20 or more points this season.  

Taylor has tallied at least 10 points in his last 13 games.   

Kinsey now has 1,911 points in his career at Marshall. He passed C.J. Burks (2015-19) for fifth-most points in program history, and is just the fifth men’s basketball player in program history to reach the 1,900-point plateau.  

Anochili-Killen’s four double-doubles this season lead the Herd.  

MU committed just eight turnovers in the win. It was the second fewest in a game this season.  

UP NEXT                   

Marshall will take on the (3W) Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on Wednesday night in Frisco. The second-round matchup is scheduled for a 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT opening tip on ESPN+. 

CONFERENCE USA TOURNAMENT

Marshall 74, Florida International 62

MARSHALL (12-20)

Anochili-Killen 5-13 3-4 15, Beyers 3-13 8-9 14, Miladinovic 1-2 0-0 2, Kinsey 9-16 4-5 23, Taylor 4-11 1-2 10, Early 0-1 1-2 1, George 2-2 0-0 5, Sarenac 0-2 2-3 2, Toussaint 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 25-61 19-25 74.

FIU (15-17)

Brown 1-9 0-0 2, Pinkney 0-0 0-0 0, Banks 3-6 1-1 7, Brewer 8-17 2-2 23, Lovett 2-6 0-0 4, Jones 4-11 2-2 12, Hawkins 2-5 0-0 6, Wilcox 2-2 1-1 5, Krivokapic 1-2 0-0 3, Smart 0-2 0-0 0, Sanogo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-61 6-6 62.

Halftime–Marshall 33-29. 3-Point Goals–Marshall 5-21 (Anochili-Killen 2-6, George 1-1, Taylor 1-3, Kinsey 1-4, Early 0-1, Sarenac 0-2, Beyers 0-4), FIU 10-28 (Brewer 5-9, Jones 2-4, Hawkins 2-5, Krivokapic 1-2, Brown 0-1, Smart 0-1, Banks 0-3, Lovett 0-3). Rebounds–Marshall 37 (Anochili-Killen 12), FIU 30 (Lovett 7). Assists–Marshall 9 (Taylor 4), FIU 10 (Brewer 4). Total Fouls–Marshall 8, FIU 19.