SMU got back on track with the program’s first win over Marshall 68-57 on the road in Huntington, W. Va. Behind sophomore Jalen Jones’ 19 points and eight rebounds the Mustangs were able to climb to 2-5 in Conference USA play.
Nick Russell added 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Ryan Manuel scored 17 points in the Mustangs’ first road victory in conference play and after losing three in a row.
Marshall had solid efforts from Elijah Pittman, who had 15 points and eight rebounds and also from Dennis Tinnon, who pulled down a season-high 17 rebounds and scored eight points for the Thundering Herd, who were dealt just their third home loss of the season by the Mustangs.
SMU was able to control the game most of the way after a Shawn Williams’ three-pointer with 11:29 to go in the first half to go up by two points.
The Mustangs wore down the Thundering Herd, leading by twelve at halftime and during the second half the issue was never in doubt with the Mustangs’ smallest lead being five points with 8:41 left in the second half before building it back up to a double digit lead.
After scoring 19 against Marshall, Jones now has scored in double digits 19 of 22 games this season.
The Mustangs took advantage of some of the ill-advised Marshall plays, converting 21 points off of just 11 turnovers by Marshall.
The Mustangs ended the game with 41 rebounds, the second highest total of the season for the Mustangs. SMU improved to 10-4 on the season when out rebounding the opponent.
While SMU’s bench has struggled this season due to a lack of depth, it was SMU’s bench that out-scored Marshall’s, 6-2.
Russell did not seem to be phased by not having a rest, having one of his better games even while playing all 40 minutes.
SMU will now look to build from this win when the team returns home to Moody Coliseum on Sat. Feb. 2, at 2 p.m. when the team hosts C-USA rival the Houston Cougars, who come in with a 2-5 C-USA record.
The Cougars are led by guard Joseph Young, who is averaging almost 17 points per game and forward TaShawn Thomas, who is close to averaging a double-double this season with 15.8 points per game and 9.9 rebounds per game.
The Mustangs cannot allow a rebounding performance from Thomas like the team allowed from Tinnon, especially on the offensive glass. Tinnon grabbed nine of his 17 rebounds on the offensive boards.
