HUNTINGTON — Missed it by this much — that’s all the Marshall Thundering Herd could say after a heartbreaking 89-88 loss to the Rice Owls on Thursday night at the Cam Henderson Center. The Herd fell to 16-14, 9-8 in Conference USA and doesn’t have to worry about getting a bye any longer, now Marshall knows it will play on Wednesday in the first round of the Conference USA Basketball Tournament at Birmingham, Ala.
There was a mathematical chance for the Herd to finish fourth with two wins, and many other things would have had to happen, but it all went away on the late 3-pointer by Egor Koulechov at one end, then a miss by Jon Elmore, a rebound and a miss by Terrence Thompson to give the Owls its first win since 2006.