With an impressive second half the Old Dominion Monarchs booked a spot in the quarterfinals after defeating No. 14 Marshall 73-58.
The Monarchs held a narrow two-point lead at halftime as both teams struggled shooting from the field in the first half. The Monarchs and Herd combined shot 18 for 50 from the field making it the lowest scoring first half of the tournament.
Old Dominion came out with an 8-0 run to start the second half and outscored the Thundering Herd 49-35. Marshall had a horrendous assist to turnover ratio of three to 14 that contributed to their loss.
Marshall was led by freshman guard Kareem Canty who had 17 points. With the loss the Thundering Herd and end their season with an 11-22 record.
Sophomore guard Aaron Bacote led the Monarchs with 25 points and seven rebounds. Bacote went to the line a season high 18 times converting on 13 of his 18 attempts.
Old Dominion is back at .500 with the win today, the 16-16 Monarchs will now face No. 3 seed Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders in the quarterfinals. The Raiders and Monarchs will square off tomorrow at the Don Haskins Center at 2:30 p.m.
Javier Cortez may be reached at [email protected]
