MARTIN, Tenn. – A season sweep over Western Illinois was in store for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball program as the Skyhawks led for nearly 37 minutes in an 81-70 triumph this afternoon at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
UT Martin (10-15, 6-8 Ohio Valley Conference) only trailed for 1:14 of clock time today, forcing the visiting Fighting Leathernecks into 17 miscues which led to a 22-6 advantage in points off turnovers. The Skyhawk defense held Western Illinois to 39.6 percent shooting (21-of-53) – limiting the opposition to under 40 percent shooting for the 11th time in 2024-25.
Tarence Guinyard went 12-for-15 from the free throw line on the way to a team-high 20 points to go along with team-bests of six rebounds and three assists. Vladimer Salaridze made his return from an injury to score 18 points with team-highs of six rebounds, three assists and two steals while freshman Filip Radaković added 11 points with a team-best three assists for UT Martin.
The Fighting Leathernecks (8-17, 2-12 OVC) were guided by Marko Maletic’s 27 points off the bench as he shot 8-of-14 from three-point range. Trey Deveaux added 17 points and a game-high seven rebounds while Ryan Myers managed 12 points.
“I’m so happy for our guys,” Skyhawk head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “They’ve battled their tails off all year and this is a good feeling that we haven’t felt in a little while and they deserve it. I want to give AJ Hopkins his flowers – he’s been banged up a lot this year but I have a lot of confidence in him. He made a huge difference with our connectivity defensively – that was a big part of what we did today.”
A Matija Žužić four-point play capped off an early 9-2 run for UT Martin. A pull-up jumper from Žužić gave the Skyhawks a 15-14 lead with 13:42 to go in the first half – igniting a 17-2 run as UT Martin would not trail from that point forward.
Afan Trnka splashed a three-pointer with a little over seven minutes remaining in the first half to push the Skyhawk lead out to 31-19. Western Illinois closed to within three points late in the opening half but a Hopkins triple helped UT Martin carry a 38-34 advantage into the locker room.
The Fighting Leathernecks scored first in the second half to pull within two points but the Skyhawks answered right back with an Andrija Bukumirović three-pointer and Salaridze hook shot that nudged the score back out to 43-36.
After Western Illinois sank a three-pointer coming out of the under-12-minute media timeout to get back within a single possession, UT Martin created some separation with a 14-3 run over a 2:56 span. Salaridze was responsible for eight of those 14 points while Guinyard landed a floater in the lane to give the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the day (67-54) with 8:29 to go.
UT Martin’s advantage was trimmed down to four points with 2:35 left in the contest but another lengthy Skyhawk run – this time an 11-2 surge – put the game away down the stretch.
UT Martin visits the state of Illinois for its next two outings, beginning with a Thursday, Feb. 13 contest at SIUE. Tipoff time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
