Middle Tennessee tops Marshall 99-90

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Jaqawn Raymond scored 20 points and second-seeded Middle Tennessee raced into the Conference USA tournament championship game with a 99-90 win over third-seeded Marshall on Friday night.

Perrin Buford had 18 points and Reggie Upshaw had 17 as all five starters had at least 12 points in the highest-scoring game of the season for the Blue Raiders (23-9), who face fifth-seeded Old Dominion in the title game.

Austin Loop and Stevie Browning had 20 points apiece for Marshall (17-16).

MTSU used a 10-0 run late in the first half to take a 39-29 lead into the break.

Marshall never cut the deficit to single digits in the second half until outscoring MTSU 11-2 in the last 43 seconds.

The Blue Raiders shot 58.5 percent (31 of 53) and made 31 of 41 free throws while the Thundering Herd was just 9 of 19 from the foul line.