CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – A slow start cost the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad tonight as the Skyhawks dropped a 66-50 decision at Southeast Missouri.
Matas Deniusas reached double figures in the scoring column for the 16th time this evening, leading UT Martin (15-5, 7-2 Ohio Valley Conference) with 11 points in 23 minutes. Andrija Bukumirović equaled a career-high with 14 rebounds while AJ Hopkins tallied eight points in 16 minutes off the bench for the Skyhawks, who fell behind 20-2 and could not recover.
The Redhawks (10-10, 5-4 OVC) were guided by Luke Almodovar’s 22 points. Braxton Stacker also contributed 14 points for Southeast Missouri, who shot just 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field but made 11 three-pointers.
“Hats off to Southeast Missouri – they played desperate tonight and was the better team tonight,” UT Martin head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “Sometimes games like this happen. College basketball is so hard at this level – because we’ve had success so far, we forget sometimes that we’re really young and we played like it tonight. This will hopefully give us a good learning experience – I still love this team, we have invested kids and I’m excited to see how our guys respond.”
The Redhawks scored the first seven points of the contest before a Filip Petkovski layup got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard at the 17:04 mark. Moments later, UT Martin went on an 11-1 run to pull within single digits (23-15) at the under-8-minute media timeout. Back-to-back layups by Deniusas wrapped up the Skyhawk run, which also featured points from Bukumirović (layup), Pedro Santos (three-pointer) and Petkovski (two free throws).
UT Martin stayed within striking distance with under five minutes to go in the opening half but Southeast Missouri ended the half on an 11-2 run to take a 40-20 lead into halftime. Deniusas’ six points paced the Skyhawks while Almodovar managed a game-high 17 points for the Redhawks at the break.
Southeast Missouri scored 11 unanswered points early in the second half and UT Martin could not battle back down the stretch. The Skyhawks ended the game on a 13-0 run in the final 5:14 with scoring coming via Hopkins (a pair of three-pointers), Ty Price (trey), Luca Colceag (two free throws) and Damien King (dunk).
Still atop the OVC standings, UT Martin is back at home on Saturday, Jan. 24 when it plays host to league foe Little Rock. Tipoff from the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center is set for 3:30 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Skyhawk women’s team.
APE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – A slow start cost the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad tonight as the Skyhawks dropped a 66-50 decision at Southeast Missouri.
Matas Deniusas reached double figures in the scoring column for the 16th time this evening, leading UT Martin (15-5, 7-2 Ohio Valley Conference) with 11 points in 23 minutes. Andrija Bukumirović equaled a career-high with 14 rebounds while AJ Hopkins tallied eight points in 16 minutes off the bench for the Skyhawks, who fell behind 20-2 and could not recover.
The Redhawks (10-10, 5-4 OVC) were guided by Luke Almodovar’s 22 points. Braxton Stacker also contributed 14 points for Southeast Missouri, who shot just 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field but made 11 three-pointers.
“Hats off to Southeast Missouri – they played desperate tonight and was the better team tonight,” UT Martin head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “Sometimes games like this happen. College basketball is so hard at this level – because we’ve had success so far, we forget sometimes that we’re really young and we played like it tonight. This will hopefully give us a good learning experience – I still love this team, we have invested kids and I’m excited to see how our guys respond.”
The Redhawks scored the first seven points of the contest before a Filip Petkovski layup got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard at the 17:04 mark. Moments later, UT Martin went on an 11-1 run to pull within single digits (23-15) at the under-8-minute media timeout. Back-to-back layups by Deniusas wrapped up the Skyhawk run, which also featured points from Bukumirović (layup), Pedro Santos (three-pointer) and Petkovski (two free throws).
UT Martin stayed within striking distance with under five minutes to go in the opening half but Southeast Missouri ended the half on an 11-2 run to take a 40-20 lead into halftime. Deniusas’ six points paced the Skyhawks while Almodovar managed a game-high 17 points for the Redhawks at the break.
Southeast Missouri scored 11 unanswered points early in the second half and UT Martin could not battle back down the stretch. The Skyhawks ended the game on a 13-0 run in the final 5:14 with scoring coming via Hopkins (a pair of three-pointers), Ty Price (trey), Luca Colceag (two free throws) and Damien King (dunk).
Still atop the OVC standings, UT Martin is back at home on Saturday, Jan. 24 when it plays host to league foe Little Rock. Tipoff from the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Game time is set for 3:30 on WCMT 1410,
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