SportsCollege

Actions

ODU falls at first place MTSU

Posted

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Old Dominion men’s basketball team (14-10, 7-5 C-USA) fell to Middle Tennessee [RV] (21-4, 11-1 C-USA) by a 64-51 score on Thursday night. B.J. Stith (six rebounds) paced the Monarchs with 17 points, Ahmad Caver (three assists, two rebounds and two steals) went for 13, while Trey Porter (three rebounds) followed with 10.

ODU men vs MTSU

ODU men vs MTSU

Trey Porter cut ODU’s deficit to nine, 39-30, at the 14:01 mark of the second half. A Jordan Baker steal led to a B.J. Stith dunk to bring the Monarchs within six, 48-42, with 8:20 remaining in regulation. The Blue Raiders answered with a 16-4 run, claiming a 64-46 advantage with 2:47 to play, before ultimately claiming a 13-point victory on Thursday night.

“Middle Tennessee is a very good basketball team,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “Against such a good team, there is so little room for error and we had some uncharacteristic errors tonight. There were times we played some very good defense and Middle Tennessee still hit big time shots. We have to work our way through this and find a way to get better.”

ODU men vs MTSU

ODU men vs MTSU

Denzell Taylor finished with five points, a game-high 10 rebounds, three assists and one steal. For the game, Old Dominion held a 26-18 advantage for points in the paint.

In a first half that the Monarchs trailed by as many as 14, ODU would trail by 11, 32-21, at halftime. Ahmad Caver led all scorers in the opening 20 minutes with nine points.

Old Dominion will be back in action this Saturday, Feb. 11 at UAB for a 8:00 p.m. EST tip, which will air on the American Sports Network.