Box Score
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Longwood University dropped an 81-47 season-opening, non-conference men's basketball decision on the road at Marshall University of Conference USA on Friday night at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington, West Virginia. The Lancers (0-1) were led by freshman
Michael Kessens|Nyon, Switzerland with 11 points while making his collegiate debut, and redshirt-sophomore
Jeylani Dublin|Brooklyn, New York added career highs of 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench. The Thundering Herd (1-0), who closed the first half with a 17-8 run and opened the second half with a 25-4 run, were led by DeAndre Kane and D.D. Scarver with game-highs of 18 points each, and Nigel Spikes added 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Longwood will play its home opener on Thursday night, November 15, hosting Norfolk State University of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference at Willett Hall in Farmville at 7 p.m. It's a 'White-Out' promotion on Thursday as all fans are encouraged to wear white to the first home game this season.
Marshall, a team with as much size, length, athleticism and depth that Longwood could see all season, scored the first six points of the contest and was never seriously threatened all night. The Lancers were within 8-5 at 13:12 after a jumper by freshman
Lucas Woodhouse|Greenlawn, New York and a three-point field goal by junior captain
David Robinson|Chesterfield. The Thundering Herd scored seven unanswered points to lead 15-5 at 9:14, but Longwood battled back behind six points from Dublin to trail only 18-12 with 6:12 left until halftime. MU, however, finished the half with its 17-8 run, sparked by Kane (6) and Scarver (3), to lead comfortably at the intermission, 35-20.
Marshall began the second half as it had finished the first half, and outscored Longwood 25-4 over the first 6:49 to lead 60-24 with 13:11 remaining. Spikes got it started with a dunk and free throw for a three-point play, and Scarver scored 11 quick points, including three consecutive three-pointers. The hosts pushed their advantage to as many as 41 points on four occasions, the last at 77-36 on a layup by Kane at 4:25. The Lancers managed to close the contest with an 11-4 run to provide for the final margin against a program that won 21 games a year ago, advancing to the National Invitation Tournament, and returned three starters among nine lettermen.
“That's a very good, and a very big team we opened the season with tonight,” said 10th-year head coach Mike Gillian. “We've done a good job getting ready for the season and there was some evidence tonight against Marshall that our work is paying dividends. In the first half, we did an excellent job defensively in the half court. We got a lot of the shots we expect to get, but didn't make a high percentage of them.
“Some young guys got great game experience in a hostile environment. We'll need to tie those things together and keep working so that we're able to perform at a high level, consistently, as we move forward.”
Kessens led Longwood with 11 points, including 7-10 free throws, adding five rebounds before fouling out with 1:59 on the clock. Dublin added career highs of 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench for the Lancers. Junior captain
Tristan Carey|Colonial Beach contributed eight points and three steals, and Woodhouse finished with five points and four assists in his collegiate debut. LU shot 29.8% (17-57) from the field, including 13.3% (2-15) on three-pointers, and 57.9% (11-19) at the free throw line. Longwood did play without two projected starters, sophomore
Frank Holloway|Alexandria and freshman
Nik Brown|Ashburn, each out with injuries.
Kane and Scarver led Marshall with 18 points each, and Kane also added a game-high eight assists. Spikes had 10 points and game highs of nine rebounds and five steals for the Thundering Herd. Elijah Pittman contributed nine points off the bench, and Jamir Hanner had eight points off the bench, while Robert Goff and Chris Martin each added seven points – Goff grabbing a game-high nine rebounds too. MU shot 50.9% (29-57) from the field, including 42.9% (6-14) on three-pointers, and 60.7% (17-28) at the line. The hosts out-rebounded the visitors 49-27, including 18 offensive rebounds, a category that they were nationally ranked in a season ago.
Longwood and Marshall were meeting for only the third time in the sport and for the first time since the two programs played in Huntington during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons. The Thundering Herd have won all three games.
