Written by Aaron-Michael Fox.

The Thundering Herd men’s basketball team defeated the North Texas Mean Green 74-72 on Saturday night, improving its record to 19-8 overall and 10-4 in Conference USA.

The Herd is now in sole possession of 4th place in the Conference USA standings. Holding onto that spot will guarantee a first round bye for the boys in green in the conference tournament.

Marshall trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, but cut the deficit to 5 by halftime.

There were 11 lead changes and 13 ties over the course of the game and it looked like the two kelly green-clad teams would be headed to overtime until C.J. Burks clinched the game on a bizarre goal-tending charge that would put Marshall up by 2 with 3/10 of a second remaining in regulation. The Mean Green were unable to answer and would let Marshall leave Denton, Texas, with the 74-72 win.

Burks would only score 5 points in the first half, but came alive in the second half and finished with 26 points including the game winner.

No surprise, Jon “Jonny Buckets” Elmore was Marshall’s #2 scorer with 16 points. Adjin Peneva would round out the top scorers with 15 points of his own.

Marshall will now return to Huntington on the hunt for their 20th season win and their first 6-game winning streak since 2010. The Herd will take on the Old Dominion Monarchs Thursday night in a 7 p.m. matchup from the Henderson Center.