MOREHEAD, Ky. – A lengthy Morehead State first-half run proved costly for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team as the Skyhawks were dealt an 84-66 setback at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.
UT Martin went on a 12-0 run in the first half en route to a four-point lead. However, the reigning Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion Eagles soon scored 20 unanswered points and the Skyhawks could not mount a comeback.
Jordan Sears scored 18 points with four assists and two steals while KK Curry equaled a season-high with 16 points with three assists for UT Martin (10-9, 3-3 OVC). Desmond Williams had nine points on a perfect 3-for-3 effort from beyond the three-point arc while Jacob Crews had eight points and a team-best five rebounds.
Morehead State (14-5, 5-1 OVC) placed three scorers in Riley Minix (26 points), Jordan Lathon (22) and Eddie Ricks III (15). The Eagles shot 58.9 percent (33-of-56) from the floor and made eight of their 11 three-pointers in the first half.
“Give Morehead State credit – we weren’t ready to compete in the first half,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “We’re disappointed but our season isn’t dictated by 20 minutes of basketball – they were really good in the first half and we weren’t. We have to find some type of consistency – we’ve shown we can compete with anybody in the conference. We’ll go back to the drawing board and figure this thing out.”
Morehead State scored the first eight points of the contest before Williams splashed a trey from the right wing to get UT Martin on the scoreboard at the 17:40 mark. The Skyhawks soon found a groove, unreeling a 12-0 run that included five points apiece from Sears and Curry. A Curry three-pointer from the right corner capped off the spurt and gave UT Martin a 15-11 advantage with 13:12 to go in the first half.
The Eagles answered with 10 straight points before a Sears three-pointer a little under midway through the first half got the Skyhawks back within three points (21-18). Crews scored in traffic to send UT Martin into the under-eight media timeout trailing by a 24-20 margin.
Morehead State then went on their aforementioned extended run before a pair of Curry free throws at the 2:38 mark ended the Skyhawk drought. Curry and Crews added buckets in the final 91 seconds to make the score 49-26 at the break.
Curry’s nine points topped UT Martin at the half while Minix (19) and Lathon (11) scored in double digits in the opening 20 minutes.
A Williams three-pointer at the 19:26 mark opened the second-half scoring for both sides. The Skyhawks soon went on an 8-2 run as a Curry old-fashioned three-point play with 16:53 remaining trimmed UT Martin’s deficit to 53-37.
Eight different Skyhawks scored in the second half as UT Martin also closed within 16 points in the waning moments. The Skyhawks kept fighting, shooting 55.6 percent (15-for-27) in the final 20 minutes, outscoring the Eagles by a 40-35 margin. However, UT Martin could not overcome its deficit.
The Skyhawks are idle for the rest of the week and will resume their OVC slate next week at home. UT Martin hosts Southeast Missouri on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. as the outing will be the backend of a doubleheader with the women’s squad.
