MARTIN, Tenn. – For the first time in 15 years, the University of Tennessee at Martin is Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball champions as the Skyhawks pulled off a come-from-behind 96-87 victory over Tennessee State this afternoon.
Today’s win led to UT Martin’s second OVC regular season championship (also winning in 2008-09) and the fifth overall conference title in school history. The Skyhawks equaled the program record for OVC victories (14), wrapping up the regular season in a three-way tie with Little Rock and Morehead State atop the league standings.
UT Martin (21-10) trailed for 32:34 of clock time and faced an 11-point deficit with 9:23 to go. However, the Skyhawk defense held the Tigers to 1-of-12 shooting down to close out the contest and rode the hot hands of Jordan Sears (34 points) and Jacob Crews (33 points) to the finish line while swishing 94.1 percent (32-for-34) of their free throw attempts.
Sears accumulated 29 points in the second half alone, ending his day with a perfect 13-of-13 effort from the charity stripe to go along with a game-high six assists. Crews tossed in 20 points in the first 20 minutes, concluding his outing with a game-high nine rebounds and an unblemished 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line.
Issa Muhammad (10 points) also reached double figures in the scoring column for UT Martin as all eight players who saw action today scored.
Tennessee State (17-14, 10-8 OVC) was guided by Marcus Fitzgerald, Jr.’s 18 points. EJ Bellinger (15 points), Kinyon Hodges (14) and Jason Jitoboh (12) also added double-digit scoring tallies for the Tigers, who were held to 3-of-13 shooting (23.1 percent) from beyond the three-point arc in the second half.
“This is unreal – it’s something we’ve talked about since June,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “All of these guys bought in together and figured out a way to put the team above themselves. They’re a great group – our motto is tough, together, unselfish but it’s more than just a slogan, our team embodied that throughout this run. It’s emotional – the work is not done but to watch those guys who have punched the clock day in and day out cut down the net after a regular season title is pretty special.”
UT Martin trailed 9-0 to begin the contest before a Crews turnaround jumper got the Skyhawks on the scoreboard. That began a stretch where the 6-8, 210-pound Crews went off for 13 of UT Martin’s first 14 points – including a trio of three-pointers in a 60-second span.
Following a Muhammad hook shot that gave the Skyhawks a 16-14 edge at the 13:04 mark, Tennessee State led for the remainder of the first half. An 11-4 run by the Tigers led to a 35-26 UT Martin deficit with five minutes to go before the halftime break.
The Tiger lead remained at nine with a little over three minutes remaining but the Skyhawks made a charge. Muhammad knocked down four free throws while Crews and Sears each drilled trifectas to whittle UT Martin’s deficit down to a single possession (43-40) at the intermission.
Crews’ 20 points led all scorers at the half while Bellinger’s 12 points guided the way for Tennessee State.
A Desmond Williams driving layup opened the Skyhawks’ second-half scoring and kept it a three-point contest (45-42). The Tigers responded with seven unanswered points as part of a 13-4 run to claim a 58-46 advantage with 15 minutes left to play.
A 25-5 surge from the home squad flipped the script and seized control for UT Martin. A Koby Jeffries driving layup knotted the score at 79-all at the 5:21 mark before a pair of Sears free throws with 4:40 remaining provided the Skyhawks with their first lead since the 13-minute mark of the opening half.
Sears connected on a three-pointer on a possession that was kept alive by a Jeffries offensive rebound before David Kamwanga converted a layup to conclude UT Martin’s run – which made the score 91-82 with 79 ticks left.
Crews splashed a three-pointer from the left wing with 37 seconds to go – giving the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the day (96-85) and sending the season-best 2,453 fans into a frenzy.
UT Martin will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s OVC Championship and receives a double bye into the tournament semifinals. The Skyhawks will make their 2023-24 postseason debut on Friday, March 8 at 9:30 p.m. against either No. 3 Morehead State, No. 6 SIUE or No. 7 Eastern Illinois.
