Herd bounces back with win over Chanticleers

Published 5:36 pm Sunday, February 4, 2024

By GRANT TRAYLOR

Associate Athletic Director of Strategic Communications

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall Men’s Basketball got a career-high effort from Obinna Anochili-Killen and a Marshall-best effort from Kevon Voyles in earning a 91-74 win over Coastal Carolina in front of 5,711 fans at Cam Henderson Center on Saturday afternoon.

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 “Basketball is a game of making shots,” Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni said. “That’s what we look like when we make shots and they are capable of doing it. I thought we were running our (offense) better.”

 Anochili-Killen finished with a new career-high of 30 points while adding 10 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double this week. It was his eighth game with at least 20 points this season and sixth in Sun Belt Conference play.

 The 6-8 senior forward finished 9 of 17 from the floor with three 3-pointers and also went 9 of 10 from the free throw line.

 Anochili-Killen was joined in the spotlight by Voyles, who set his top scoring game at Marshall for the second straight contest.

 After finishing with 23 points on Thursday night, Voyles continued his hot shooting, scoring 26 points – one off his career-high set while at Maryland-Eastern Shore – while knocking down a team-best five 3-pointers.

 Voyles helped lead Marshall out to an advantage early, scoring 11 of Marshall’s first 16 points while hitting three 3-pointers in the process.

 Anochili-Killen followed it up with eight straight points of his own as the Herd took a 24-10 lead with 13:39 still remaining in the first half.

 “We started out better today at the beginning,” Voyles said. “We didn’t come out flat. Usually, when we start out well, we cruise to the finish and we started out really good today.”

 Voyles added the final five points of the half as Marshal took a 48-32 lead into the locker room.

 In the second half, Voyles and Anochili-Killen continued to pace the offense with the lead ballooning to as many as 27 on a Voyles’ 3-pointer with 16:58 left in the game.

 Marshall shot 50.8 percent from the floor in the win while out-rebounding Coastal Carolina 40-35. In addition to Anochili-Killen’s strong performance on the inside, Marshall got eight points, six rebounds and five steals from Nate Martin while Wyatt Fricks also had nine points and six rebounds.

 The Herd now hits the road for a Wednesday night game at Troy before taking the weekend off. Tip-off for the game from Troy is 7 p.m.

Marshall 91, Coastal Carolina 74

COASTAL CAROLINA (6-16)

Easley 5-11 0-0 10, Granja 1-5 0-0 2, MacVicar 2-5 0-0 5, Ojiako 9-12 2-4 20, Meyer 7-12 6-8 22, Blackmon 2-8 2-4 7, Sanders 2-6 1-2 5, Abraham 0-2 0-0 0, Stafl 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 29-64 12-20 74.

MARSHALL (12-12)

Anochili-Killen 9-17 9-10 30, Martin 4-5 0-0 8, Curfman 0-4 0-0 0, Voyles 10-18 1-2 26, Conner 1-3 0-0 3, Nutter 2-6 0-0 5, Fricks 3-5 2-5 9, Sarenac 2-4 1-2 7, Crawford 0-0 0-0 0, Miladinovic 0-0 0-0 0, Pruett 0-0 0-0 0, Thieneman 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 32-63 13-19 91.

Halftime–Marshall 48-32. 3-Point Goals–

Coastal Carolina 4-18 (Meyer 2-4, MacVicar 1-3, Blackmon 1-4, Sanders 0-1, Abraham 0-2, Granja 0-4), Marshall 14-37 (Voyles 5-11, Anochili-Killen 3-7, Sarenac 2-4, Thieneman 1-1, Fricks 1-2, Conner 1-3, Nutter 1-5, Curfman 0-4). Fouled Out–Anochili-Killen. Rebounds–Coastal Carolina 34 (Ojiako 13), Marshall 36 (Anochili-Killen 10). Assists–Coastal Carolina 13 (Sanders 3), Marshall 25 (Nutter 6). Total Fouls–Coastal Carolina 14, Marshall 18. A–5,711 (9,048).