Marshall Recap
By Ben Anderson, FM88 Sports
Jan. 10, 2025
Jalen Speer had a historic shooting night with a career-high 7 three-pointers to lead Marshall to an 80-78 victory Thursday over James Madison.
Speer finished the game with a season-high 27 points. Additionally, he made program history going 7-7 from beyond the arc to become the only player in program history to go 100 percent on long range shots with at least seven makes. The graduate student and Florida A&M transfer is the only player in the nation to be perfect from trifecta with at least seven makes this season.
“Just trust in my work,” Speer said during the postgame news conference. “I’ve had a couple of games where I lost my confidence throughout the season with some trials and tribulations, but I just trust in my work. My teammates, like this guy (Cade Gibbs) right beside me, rallying around me, makes nights like this hard to beat.”
After James Madison’s Mark Freeman went 1-2 from the free throw line with six seconds left on the clock, Marshall took the ball down the court and Cade Gibbs was fouled with 1.1 seconds. Gibbs put Marshall up for good, converting on both free throws. Gibbs finished with 17 points and was 5 of 5 from the line.
“In high school, I had a similar situation in the sectional,” Gibbs said during the postgame news conference. “I missed the front half of a 1-and-1, and they hit a shot from half-court to beat us.”
“It was my last high school game, so ever since, I practice them all the time,” Gibbs said. “I cannot let that happen again. They weren’t the most intense free throws I’ve had. I do this every day, and I’ve missed bigger ones before. I locked in. We put the work in, and to God be the glory.”
The Dukes attempted a full-court pass that was intercepted by Dezayne Mingo, for his second steal of the game to secure the Herd’s first win against the Dukes as members of the Sun Belt Conference.
“The last couple of games, I feel like we were losing track of how much time we had left,” Gibbs said. “I knew we had seven seconds. Dezayne made a great pass, so I knew that I had to go up. The first one was blocked, but I stayed and got the foul call.”
Marshall began the game with a 3-pointer from Nate Martin to start the three-point barrage. The Herd entered the contest ranked near the bottom in the country from triple but finished with a season high 54% going 13 for 24.
Speer hit back-to-back trifectas to give Marshall a 17-13 lead with 9:40 remaining in the first half.
Marshall pushed its lead to 25-14 after 8 straight points from Mikal Dawson that included a bucket off a steal, and back-to-back 3-pointers with 6:38 to go in the first half.
James Madison in the first half went 2 for 6 from behind the arc, while Marshall went 5 for 12.
James Madison took the lead at halftime, following a buzzer-beater three from Xavier Brown to set the score at 34-32 in favor of the Dukes.
At the 15 minute mark in the second half, Marshall lost Obinna Anochili-Killen to injury. The Herd lef for more than 28 minutes in the game despite losing Anochilli-Killen who had 4 blocks in 18 minutes.
“We didn’t want to repeat last week,” Marshall head coach Cornelius Jackson said during the postgame news conference. “(Troy) took the lead with 22 seconds left, so we didn’t want to repeat that. Losing Obinna was huge, but other guys stepped up. Hopefully we will have the big O back on Saturday.”
“Not having him is tough for sure,” Gibbs said. “He’s a great rim protector and he’s honestly kind of an outlet when we get beat at the rim. But, we gave up a lot of easy buckets without him down there but luckily we made enough plays to win.”
Gibbs and Speer continued the 3-point party for the Herd in the second half. Gibbs set a season high with a pair of trifectas to give Marshall a 49-45 lead. Speer hit four 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes.
“That’s how we play,” Speer said. “Once we make good plays, we keep on rolling. We feed off each other’s energy.”
“I was talking to him (Speer) on the way up here after the first three that I knew they were going in,” Gibbs said. “The coaches were yelling to crash, but I knew that once he gets hot, you can start to expect that.”
Marshall entered the contest committing 12 turnovers a game, but only committed 8 against the Dukes.
“Those guys are way more physical than what we saw on film,” Jackson said. “I must have watched seven games and I didn’t know they were going to be that physical, they’re strong. I thought we handled it.”
Freeman led the Dukes with 31 points, his second 30-point game in the last days and fifth of his career.
Marshall held the Dukes leading scorer Bryce Lindsay to 7 points, and 3 for 6 from the field.
“We knew that he can shoot it from anywhere and has unlimited range,” Gibbs said. “It was a point of emphasis to not let him get shots off and contain him. Great scout from (Marshall assistant) coach (Mark) Cline that we put into action.”
Along with Speer 27 points, Marshall had two other players finish with double-digit scoring as Mikal Dawson and Gibbs both dropped 17 points.
The contest marked the first time this season that Marshall won a game after trailing at halftime, as the Herd entered the contest 0-6 in games with the scenario.
“Really fun game to watch and coach,” Jackson said. “We talked about James Madison being the defending (Sun Belt Conference) champion. They only have one guy back from last year’s team.”
Marshall improved to 9-8 (2-2 SBC) with the win.
“Great team win,” Jackson said. “The crowd was into it. They got the loudest they have been all year.”
Marshall hosts Georgia Southern on Saturday at 4 p.m. for its final game of a four-game homestead before a four-game road trip.