— By David Walsh
Jalen Speer goes scoreless, while Wyatt Fricks scores 6 points and fouls out. Caleb Hollebeck also doesn’t dent the scoring column.
Should spell trouble for Marshall in Saturday’s Sun Belt Conference contest against Arkansas State at First National Bank Arena.
Not to worry. Bench play, especially from Wilson Dubinsky and Shamarrie Hugie, to go along with starter Noah Otshudi’s effort, powered Marshall past the Red Wolves, 70-61, in front of 3,932 fan who watched their team suffer its third straight defeat.
Dubinsky led all scorers with a career-high 23 points. He made 7-of-10 shots including 6 of 9 from three. Hugie contributed a career-best 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting to go with 4 of 4 in free throws. Marshall’s bench won that battle 46-21 and so happened to outscore its starters, 46-24. Otshudi finished with 12. Matt Van Komen grabbed eight rebounds and blocked five shots. Dubinsky also had eight rebounds.
“When it’s all said and done, these are the games you have to win if you want to be a really good team,” Marshall coach Corny Jackson said on postgame radio. “I thought we came out and had a little bit more focus than we did at Texas State. I thought we wore the right gear to the game. We left our bow ties and tuxedos at home and came out ready to play.”
Otshudi made the final two baskets late in the first half to give Marshall (14-8, 6-4 SBC) a 41-38 lead at the break.
In the second half, the Herd held the upper hand most of the time against the cold-shooting Red Wolves (13-10, 5-6 SBC). They had no field goals in the final 6:19 and made just 1 of their last 16 attempts. Jalen Hampton scored with 9:46 left to cut the deficit to five (59-54). Marshall then scored seven straight points on a three by Dubinsky and two baskets by Otshudi to make it 66-56 with 6:19 to play. Hugie got a tip-in basket with 5:36 to go to make it 68-58.
Arkansas State would manage just free throws from that point. The Red Wolves had to make multiple fouls in the closing stages to get the Herd on the bonus. Dubinsky capped his day and the game with two free throws with 19 seconds left to set the final score.
“Wilson had 23 points. Shamarrie played big minutes and had 17. Matt was huge. So it’s a great team win,” Jackson said. “We decided to come out and play and bounce back. (Assistant) coach (Steve) Snell challenge them this morning and they responded.”
Jackson offered a simple explanation for the play from Dubinsky and Hugie, who played the past two seasons at Cowley College, a junior college. He had the nickname “Slick” there.
“They were ready when their number was called,” Jackson said. “Hugie averaged 14 points a game in junior college. He’s capable. One of those deals you get your number called, you step up and give big-time energy. Talked to the junior college coach. He said keep it simple. Brought that up to him minutes after the game.”
Van Komen’s presence around the basket, along with the 6-10 Fricks before he fouled out, made it tough down under for the Red Wolves.
Arkansas State, the top SBC team in offensive rebounds at 13 per game, got 18 to 11 for the Herd. However, the Red Wolves totaled just 11 second-chance points. They took 32 3s, but made only 7 (22 percent). Marshall went 8-of-20 from behind the arc.
“Pay attention to detail,” Jackson said. “They get to the rim and shoot threes. I thought our three-point defense was good. Funnel them into the middle where it’s hard to finish over 7-4 (Van Komen) and 6-10 (Fricks). We really honed in on the defensive end. A tough environment and they’re super talented. They had dropped a couple. Battled foul trouble and made free throws. You have to be strong mentally and physically. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Van Komen, the SBC leader in blocks, now has 58. Speer did have eight assists to bring his SBC lead to 125.
Arkansas State came in averaging 82.5 points a game, second in the league. The Red Wolves have 10 transfers on their roster, the most in team history. They’re the only SBC team to not return a single player from the previous roster.
Marshall’s next game is Wednesday at home against Southern Miss. Tip is 7 p.m. at Cam Henderson Center.
Next Saturday, it’s round two in the MAC-SBC Challenge. The opponent is unbeaten and 24th-ranked Miami Ohio. Miami is 22-0 and leads the Mid-American Conference at 10-0 after its 85-61 win over Northern Illinois at home Saturday.