Marshall Basketball Runs Away from FIU for Weekend Sweep in Miami

The Marshall University men’s basketball team won its second game in as many days with an 89-72 rout Saturday on the road against Florida International.

The Thundering Herd (9-4, 3-3 Conference USA) completed the weekend sweep of the Panthers (8-8, 2-6 C-USA) behind a Taevion Kinsey double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Andrew Taylor went for 20 points in the win while freshman David Early, Logan High’s all-time leading scorer, had a career-high 14 points for Marshall.

“The more people you have playing to their potential, the better the team will be,” Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni said after Saturday’s win.

Senior forward Darius George rounded out the group of MU double-digit scorers Saturday with 10 points against FIU.

Marshall trailed 24-15 with a little less than 10 minutes to play in the first half before a rally — including eight consecutive points from Early during one stretch — put MU ahead 43-36 at the break. FIU eventually tied the game at 62-62 with 9:39 to play but could never take the lead as Marshall pulled away for a convincing win on the road.

WATCH: MARSHALL’S DAN D’ANTONI ON WEEKEND SWEEP OF FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 

Saturday’s game followed a similar path to Friday’s game against the Panther’s with Marshall taking control of the game during the final 10 minutes. D’Antoni said he wishes the Herd could figure out how to play that way for the entire game.

“It’s basically locking down and playing their positions defensively,” D’Antoni said. “Sometimes we get in the flow of the game and our defense is built on assignments — each person has to carry out their assignment or there is a hole in the defense. Sometimes early in the game or at different times in the game they’ll get a little not focused, mentally, or maybe a little bit lazy and they’ll guard their man instead of guarding their man from their assigned position. Basically I just have to keep reminding them that when we do lock down on that, we’re pretty good.”

For FIU, Javaunte Hawkins led the Panthers with 20 points off the bench while Antonio Daye finished with 18 points in the loss.

Marshall’s next scheduled games are Jan. 29 and 30 — next Friday and Saturday — at home against Florida Atlantic in the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.