EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – A scintillating opening 20 minutes for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad propelled the Skyhawks to a 90-79 triumph over SIUE at First Community Arena this afternoon.
UT Martin shot 54.8 percent (17-for-31) – including an 8-of-16 effort from three-point land – and limited the Cougars to 25 percent (7-of-28) shooting in the first half en route to a 46-20 halftime advantage. The 20 points scored were the fewest by any Skyhawk NCAA Division I opponent in 2023-24.
Overall, UT Martin (14-9, 7-3 Ohio Valley Conference) held an advantage for 37:56 of clock time and led by as many as 31 points with 15 minutes remaining.
OVC scoring leader Jordan Sears was on fire once again today, tying a career-high with 34 points on 9-of-15 shooting. He sank a career-best six 3-pointers in eight attempts while going 10-for-12 from the free throw line. In addition, the junior from Daytona Beach, Fla. tacked on six assists, four rebounds and three steals in 38 minutes.
Jacob Crews was responsible for his second consecutive double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Issa Muhammad tallied 13 points, seven rebounds, a career-high five assists and two steals. Desmond Williams also joined the 1,000-point club for his collegiate career early in the first half for the Skyhawks, who connected on 54.7 percent (29-for-53) of their shot attempts and made 11 treys.
SIUE (13-10, 6-4 OVC) was led by Shamar Wright’s 26 points while Damarco Minor and Lamar Wright added 19 and 18 points, respectively.
“I thought defensively our guys were locked in and those first 20 minutes were as good of a defensive effort as we’ve seen since I’ve been here,” third-year UT Martin head coach Ryan Ridder said. “We were disciplined on defense and we were making shots – everything was clicking. You find out who you are on the road and that’s a heck of a victory – SIUE is a really good team and we put ourselves in a great situation with how we played in the first half.”
The Skyhawk defense was active from the start, allowing UT Martin to get off to an 8-1 lead less than two minutes into the contest. The Cougars answered with an 8-0 run before Sears’ first trifecta of the day tilted the score back in favor of the Skyhawks.
UT Martin soon scored the first 12 points of a 29-3 run that lasted 11:34 of clock time. Sears was the main catalyst of the Skyhawks’ surge as he piled up almost half (14) of the team’s 29 points during that run, canning four treys over that stretch. His strong take to the hoop at the 3:14 mark extended UT Martin’s advantage out to 40-14.
A steal and fast break layup by Sears with 1:25 to go before the halftime break resulted in a 46-20 Skyhawk lead at the intermission. Sears had 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting (including a 5-for-6 performance from three-point range) in the first half while Crews added 10 points for the Skyhawks. Shamar Wright collected a team-best 11 points in the opening half for SIUE.
Sears swished a three-pointer from the left wing to begin the second-half scoring for UT Martin. A Williams layup with 15:19 remaining provided the Skyhawks with their biggest lead of the afternoon at 31 points (59-28).
Shortly thereafter, Crews came away with five consecutive UT Martin points before a Sebastian Mendoza triple from the right wing made the score 67-38 in favor of the Skyhawks with 11:41 to go.
The Cougars responded with an 8-0 run but a thunderous dunk from Sears on a backdoor cut kept UT Martin’s advantage at 20 points (75-55) with 6:16 left in the game.
SIUE slowly trimmed its deficit – eventually pulling within nine points with just under a minute to go – but the Skyhawk lead was never in serious jeopardy.
UT Martin faces a quick turnaround as it continues its four-game road swing with a Tuesday, Feb. 6 matchup at Little Rock. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
