MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team led for nearly 37 minutes of clock time this afternoon but overcame a late deficit with a game-ending 8-0 run in an 88-82 triumph over Morehead State.
After winning for the seventh time in their last eight tries, the Skyhawks improve to 17-10 with a 10-4 record in Ohio Valley Conference play – just one game behind the visiting Eagles (20-7, 11-3) in the league standings. Today’s victory also clinched a winning season for UT Martin and is just the third time in school history (second year in a row) that the Skyhawks have defeated every OVC team at least once in a single season.
UT Martin led by as many as 13 points with 11:13 remaining but Morehead State clawed back to take an 82-80 advantage with 1:50 to go. A free throw from Jordan Sears followed before Issa Muhammad converted both ends of a one-and-one situation from the charity stripe to nudge the Skyhawks ahead by an 83-82 margin at the 1:12 mark. Sebastian Mendoza then drained a clutch three-pointer from the left corner on UT Martin’s next possession before Sears knocked down two free throws that officially sealed the win. All in all, the Skyhawk defense locked down the Eagles for three missed shots and a turnover on their final four possessions en route to the victory.
Sears achieved a bit of history today as the junior guard from Daytona Beach, Fla. scored his 1,000th point in a UT Martin uniform. He became the 19th member of the Skyhawks’ 1,000-point club and only the fourth player to accomplish that feat in two seasons or less, joining Lester Hudson (2007-09), Michael Hart (1994-96) and Marcus Glass (1984-86). Sears ended his day with a game-high 31 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals while playing all 40 minutes for UT Martin, who drained 45.8 percent (11-for-24) of its three-point attempts.
Jacob Crews accounted for 29 points (on 11-of-22 shooting), eight rebounds and two steals today while Muhammad hauled in a team-best nine rebounds while toughing out an eye injury that occurred in the first 93 seconds of the game.
Morehead State saw three players score at least 20 points, led by Riley Minix’s 26 points and 10 rebounds. Eddie Ricks III added 21 points with seven rebounds and Drew Thelwell provided 20 points plus a game-high eight assists for the Eagles, who were outscored by sizeable margins by the Skyhawks in fast breaks (23-6) and in bench points (17-0).
“That was a heck of a basketball game with two really good teams playing each other – Morehead State is the No. 1 team in our league for a reason,” UT Martin head coach Ryan Ridder said. “Give it up for our crowd – I thought they gave us a little bit of an extra edge. Sebastian hit a bigtime shot for us down the stretch and we dug in defensively at the end. Once again, we found a way to collectively win together – I’m fired up for that group in the locker room – they’ve earned it.”
The Skyhawks led for the first 33:56 of the game, taking a 44-36 halftime lead into the locker room. Sears’ 1,000th point at UT Martin gave the home squad a 10-4 lead four minutes into the contest before the Eagles raced back to tie the score at 15-all.
A Mendoza three-pointer at the 6:25 mark of the first half opened up a 29-21 lead for the Skyhawks. Towards the latter stages of the opening half, Crews pumped in six straight points for UT Martin – capped off with an off-balance turnaround trifecta from the left corner that provided the Skyhawks with a double-digit lead (44-33) for the first time all afternoon.
Sears also went on a personal 7-0 run for UT Martin in the early portion of the second half. He scored on a driving layup, canned a pullup three-pointer and splashed a floater in the paint – all in the span of 52 seconds – to push the Skyhawk advantage out to 64-51 with 11 minutes to go.
A little under two minutes later, Morehead State began a 12-0 run that ended with UT Martin’s first deficit of the contest (68-67) at the 6:04 mark. That lead lasted exactly nine seconds before Muhammad weaved through traffic for a driving layup that tilted the score back in favor of the Skyhawks.
It was a back-and-forth affair from there. Crews hit a pullup three-pointer to give UT Martin an 80-77 edge with 2:24 remaining but the Eagles responded with five straight points. The Skyhawks’ defensive prowess then showed up while the aforementioned trio of Sears, Muhammad and Mendoza gave UT Martin the offensive punch it needed in crunchtime.
The Skyhawks go on the road for their next two outings, starting a two-game swing through Missouri with a Thursday, Feb. 22 visit to Lindenwood. Tipoff from St. Charles is set for 7:30 p.m.
