CONWAY, S.C. – Jomaru Brown came off the bench to lead five Coastal players in double figures, but it wasn't enough as Andrew Taylor answered with a career-high 33 points as Marshall led the whole way and took a 92-74 win in a Sun Belt Conference game Thursday night at the HTC Center.
 
Brown led Coastal with 16 points, while Essam Mostafa, Kylan Blackmon, and Josh Uduje each had 11 points. Jimmy Nichols came off the bench to get his 10 points, while point guard Antonio Daye finished with seven points and six assists. Mostafa also had a game and team-high 10 rebounds in collecting his 15th double-double of the season. The loss knocked Coastal to 10-15 overall and 4-9 in the league.
 
Taylor, a 6'3" senior sharpshooting guard, made 14-of-27 shots, including five three-pointers. Kamdyn Curfman added 20 points and Taevion Kinsey, the leading scorer in the Sun Belt, had 17 points for the Thundering Herd, which improved to 20-6 overall and 9-4 in the Sun Belt.
 
"Our confidence is down, and right now that's a big problem for us," said Coastal head coach Cliff Ellis. "We missed three-point shots and that was the difference. We have played so much better this year, but we're just not seeing our shots go in right now. But, to their credit, Marshall's starting five is as good as any in the league."
 
Coastal missed its first 10 three-point tries before finishing 7-of-25 from long range. In contrast, Marshall took more than half of its shots from long range, hitting 13-of-40, including seven in the final 10 minutes that kept Coastal from ever cutting the lead below 10 points after the midway point of the first half.
 
Taylor scored seven of his team's first 17 points as the Thundering Herd jumped out to a 17-3 lead. But Coastal found its stride behind the inside scoring of Mostafa and Jomaru Brown, who combined for 11 points, and put together a 13-4 run to pull within 21-16 at the midway point of the first half. But that was as close as Coastal could get for the rest of the contest.
 
Taylor and Kinsey combined for 26 points in the first period, leading Marshall to a commanding 45-28 advantage at the break. Jomaru Brown came off the bench to lead Coastal with nine points in the half, but the Chanticleers went without making a three-pointer (0-of-9) in the first 20 minutes.
 
Coastal finally made a long-range shot in the midst of a 9-0 run in the early stages of the second half to cut the margin to 47-37. The Chants fought back four more times in the second half to pull within 10 points, but each time the visitors answered with a three-pointer. Finally, it was Curfman who ended any hope of a Chants' comeback with four treys in the final seven minutes as Marshall closed the game by outscoring Coastal 22-14.
 
Coastal will continue its four-game home stand on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET when it hosts James Madison. The Chanticleers will then welcome Georgia State next Thursday night and Texas State the following Saturday afternoon.
 
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