NORFOLK, Va. – B.J. Stith led four Monarchs in double-figures with 17, as the Old Dominion men’s basketball team (17-10, 10-5 C-USA) pummeled Marshall (15-13, 8-7 C-USA) by an 86-65 score on Thursday night at the Ted Constant Convocation Center. ODU has now won three in a row by 20-plus points. Old Dominion’s defense held the Thundering Herd 21-points shy of their average (86.2). ODU’s bench out-scored Marshall’s, 37-7, for the contest. The Monarchs never trailed in a game they led for 39:44 of the possible 40 minutes, as the game was tied for the opening 16 seconds.
Trey Porter executes a slam dunk during ODU's 86-65 victory vs. Marshall
“This was a good win for us,” said ODU head coach Jeff Jones. “I thought our energy was good and our defense was solid all the way through. We are thrilled to win, but we can’t look too much into this. We still have plenty of room to improve; there is a high ceiling for this group. Now, we have a big challenge coming up on Saturday night.”
Ahmad Caver went for 16 points, eight assists, three steals and two rebounds. Zoran Talley tallied 15 points, two rebounds and two steals. Also in double-figures for ODU was Trey Porter, who scored 10 points and hauled down eight rebounds.
Old Dominion has won the past three games by an average of 22 points. The Monarchs held advantages for points off turnovers (25-5) and steals (11-4).
ODU men's basketball
The Monarchs forced a Herd timeout at the 17:55 mark after stretching the lead to 15, 45-30. ODU held Marshall without a field-goal for over four minutes, while ballooning the lead to 18, 64-46, with 7:34 to play, before ultimately claiming a 21-point victory on Thursday night in Norfolk.
With 9:25 left in the first half, Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni was ejected after picking up his second technical foul.
In a first half that the Monarchs led by as many as 11, Old Dominion claimed a nine point lead at halftime, behind 10 points, three assists and two rebounds from Ahmad Caver. ODU shot 50% from three in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Thundering Herd was led by Austin Loop’s 18 points.
