Louisiana Tech and Marshall entered Thursday night as two of the four teams (Middle Tennessee and Old Dominion being the others) fighting for the two-seed in next week’s Conference USA tournament with UAB already having locked up the top spot. As expected the Bulldogs and Thundering Herd went down to the wire, with Louisiana Tech winning 97-94 on a Derric Jean half-court shot as time expired.
47 feet of FILTHY!
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 4, 2016
LA Tech defeats Marshall on a Derric Jean half-court buzzer beater! pic.twitter.com/WVJKMjqArk
Jean’s shot moved Louisiana Tech into a tie for second with Middle Tennessee, a game ahead of Marshall and Old Dominion in the loss column. Alex Hamilton led the Bulldogs with 38 points, four rebounds, six assists and four steals, and Erik McCree added 22 and ten boards.
As for Marshall, four of their six Conference USA losses have been by four points or less. James Kelly finished Thursday’s game with 27 points and five rebounds, but thanks to the heroics of Jean that performance came in a losing effort.