The 2018 C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco continues on Friday.  Behind a near triple-double from Jon Elmore, Marshall moved past Southern Miss, 85-75, in the first semifinal to put the Thundering Herd in the finals for the second straight year.  The second semifinal game will feature No. 3 WKU matching up against No. 2 Old Dominion at 3 p.m.  The Hilltoppers are seeking their first trip to the C-USA Championship Game, while the Monarchs are trying to get back to the title game for the second time in three seasons.

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Semifinals: Game 9
(4) Marshall 85, (9) Southern Miss 75
Behind a near triple-double from Jon Elmore, Marshall moved past Southern Miss, 85-75, in the semifinals of the 2018 C-USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco.  The fourth-seeded Thundering Herd (23-10) will advance to the title game for the second consecutive year on Saturday at 7:30 pm CT.
 
Elmore poured in 26 points, grabbed nine rebounds and nine assists, narrowly missing out on being the second player in C-USA Championship history to register a triple-double. He hit a game-high five 3-pointers and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.  His final three was a big one, ending an 11-0 Southern Miss run and boosting the lead to nine with less than three minutes remaining.
 
The game featured an array of runs.  The score was tied 19-19 when Marshall went on an 11-0 run beginning at 11:43 of the first half to take a 30-19 lead it would not relinquish.  The Herd also closed the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 20-point lead at halftime at 47-27, aided by the Golden Eagles missing their final nine shots from the field to close out the half. Marshall pushed its lead to as many as 24, but Southern Miss would whittle that down to six with three minutes to play, finishing with an 11-0 run.  From there, the Herd would hold serve and finish with the 10-point winning margin.
 
Marshall used strong long-range shooting to build its 20-point halftime margin.  The Herd opened with seven 3’s in first nine minutes by five different players, finishing 9-of-18 in first half.  Marshall added three more treys in the second half for a game total of 12, the 21st time the Herd has hit 10 or more 3-pointers in a game this season.
 
All five Marshall starters scored in double-digits.  In addition to Elmore’s 26 points, Jannson Williams scored 17, C.J. Burks had 13 and both Ajdin Penava and Jarrod West chipped in with 12.  Burks also contributed six assists and six rebounds.
 
For the fourth straight game, Cortez Edwards topped the 20-point mark, scoring a career-high 30 points.  He finished the C-USA Championship with 82 points (27.3 per game) in three outings, as Southern Miss advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2014.
 
After hitting 13 three-pointers on 25 attempts (52%) in the win over No. 1 seed Middle Tennessee last night, that figure fell to 8-of-29 (27%) against Marshall.  Tyree Griffin connected on four of the treys for USM, finishing with 19 points.  Edwards and Griffin combined for 49 of the Golden Eagles 75 points.

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Semifinals: Game 10
(3) WKU 57, (2) Old Dominion 49
A semifinal that produced a seemingly slow offensive start turned into an action-packed finish as No. 3 WKU sent No. 2 Old Dominion packing Friday afternoon at the 2018 Conference USA Men’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. WKU will appear in its first C-USA Championship game 7:30 p.m. Saturday against No. 4 Marshall.

WKU’s Justin Johnson manufactured his second-straight double-double of the tournament, turning in a game-high 13 rebounds and 19 points on 7-of-12 shots from the field. Taveion Hollingsworth chipped in 11 points. Lamonte Bearden inked seven points and four assists, and sank a buzzer 3-pointer to send the Hilltoppers into the break up by nine.

Trey Porter matched Johnson’s game-high 19 points in 28 minutes for the Monarchs. Brandan Stith pulled down 10 rebounds with eight points and two blocks. Ahmad Caver contributed 10 points, three assists and three steals.

Points came at a premium early in the opening half with both teams hitting less than 30 percent of their shots. Old Dominion muscled a five-point lead 11-6 through the first eight minutes, while WKU was still searching for its first long-range bucket. A quick tip-in from Johnson then ignited a 17-2 run midway for the Hilltoppers. The Monarchs later capitalized on a three-point play from B.J. Stith and a Caver free throw to wither the lead to single-digits before Bearden loaded up for a trey with a second left.

Old Dominion went to work after halftime, trailing only by two at the 14:12 mark. An emphatic dunk from Xavier Green brought the Monarchs within one and forced WKU into a timeout. A Stith jumper handed Old Dominion the lead 41-40, but fouls proved to be costly as Hollingsworth drained a pair of extra points to regain the advantage.

Johnson fueled the energy in Ford Center with his second 3 of the game, creating an eight-point distance with just under two to play. A few trips to the foul line in the final seconds sealed the victory for WKU and secured its opportunity for the league title.

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