The Marshall University men’s basketball team was defeated by the University of North Carolina-Charlotte 49ers on Thursday night in the Cam Henderson Center with a final score of 77-75.

The Herd drops to 8-10 (2-3 Conference USA) on the season, while the 49ers improve to 10-5 (4-0 C-USA).

“Tough loss, all loses are tough,” Marshall Head Coach Dan D’Antoni said. “Got two warriors, I know that, in Taevion (Kinsey) and Jarrod (West). We’ve got to get some people playing and moving their game up to the competitive level.”

Sophomore guard Taevion Kinsey led the way for the Herd with a double-double and a career high 29 points while pulling down 11 rebounds. Junior guard Jarrod West followed behind with 18 points, five assists and two steals. The two steals put West third place in program history with 182 steals, passing Jon Elmore’s total of 181. Freshman forward Marko Sarenac finished with eight points and five rebounds, going 2-for-3 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

“It’s a tough one, man,” Kinsey said. “We gotta keep fighting, there’s definitely gotta be some fire in us. I just don’t see enough fight right now, sometimes we got it, sometimes we don’t.”

Four of the 49ers finished in double figures. Amidou Bamba and Jahmir Young led the way for the 49ers with 16 points and six rebounds apiece. Jordan Shepherd scored 14 points with four steals. Cooper Robb rounded out the 49ers double-figure scorers with 13 points while also recording three steals.

The 49ers edged the Herd 19 to 17 in points from the bench while both teams scored 32 points in the paint and added two points in the paint a piece. The Herd outscored the 49ers 21 to 18 off turnovers and 11 to seven in second chance points.

Marshall went 26-for-61 (42.2%) from the field and 6-for-22 (27.2%) from the three-point line, while Charlotte went 25-for-46 from the floor and 5-for-12 (41.6%) from beyond the arc. The Herd went 17-for-27 (62.9%) from the free throw line, while the 49ers went 22-for-34 (64.7%).

Up next for the Herd, the Old Dominion Monarchs will visit the Cam Henderson Center on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

Spencer DuPuis can be contacted at [email protected].