By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team shaved a double-digit deficit down to just three points with three minutes to go against Middle Tennessee but the Skyhawks could not get over the hump in an 84-75 setback at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Trailing by a 74-63 margin with 4:25 remaining, UT Martin cranked up the heat defensively to pull within a single possession. KK Curry came away with a pair of steals and turned those into a pair of fast break layups, capping off an 8-0 run in the span of 85 seconds. With the Skyhawks within striking distance at 74-71, the Blue Raiders scored 10 of the next 12 points to sneak out with a win.
KJ Simon tied a career-high with 21 points this evening for the Skyhawks (3-7), adding five rebounds, a career-best five steals and two assists. Curry was plagued by foul trouble throughout the night but still finished with 18 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 26 minutes of play. Koby Jeffries rounded out UT Martin’s double-digit scorers with a career-high 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting while Bernie Andre hauled in a game-best eight rebounds.
Middle Tennessee (8-2) was led by Eli Lawrence’s 21 points while Donovan Sims (15 points, seven rebounds, five assists) and DeAndre Dishman (15 points, three steals) also guided the Blue Raiders offensively. Seventeen of Middle Tennessee’s 27 made free throws came over the final 20 minutes.
“We’re doing everything in our power to play our best basketball and we’re trying to figure this thing out together,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “All of us want results but right now we’re playing some really good opponents and we’re just not doing enough things throughout the course of 40 minutes to get that done. But I have faith and confidence in those guys that we’re going to figure out how to do it. It’s going to be a battle every game when you have 14 new guys but we are significantly better today than we were on November 9th. I wish that our record showed that but we’re a group that continues to fight.”
UT Martin came out hot from three-point range as Jeffries, Simon and Darius Simmons each swished triples to give the Skyhawks a 15-10 advantage a little over four minutes into the contest.
The Blue Raiders went on a 12-3 run to take their first lead of the night before a pair of Andre free throws at the 11:04 mark tilted the score back in favor of UT Martin at 18-17.
After Middle Tennessee posted a 12-4 run, a Mikel Henderson floater in the lane cut the Skyhawk deficit to 31-29 at the 5:14 mark of the opening half. The Blue Raiders pushed their lead back out to eight less than three minutes later but a Jeffries free throw, Henderson three-pointer and David Didenko turnaround jumpshot in the paint helped UT Martin close the gap to 43-39 at the break.
Jeffries and Sims shared the lead with a game-high 11 points for their respective squads in the first half. Both teams shot an event 50 percent (13-of-26 for the Skyhawks, 14-for-28 for Middle Tennessee) in the opening 20 minutes.
Jeffries sank a free throw 15 seconds into the second half but the Blue Raiders responded with 10 unanswered points over a stretch of 1:38.
Simon knocked down back-to-back three-pointers while Curry (old-fashioned three-point play, driving layup) accounted for UT Martin’s next five points to make the score 53-51 with a little under 15 minutes to go.
Middle Tennessee then went on a 7-0 run and eventually took its aforementioned 11-point lead with 4:25 remaining.
The Skyhawks made their push, starting with a Simon pull-up jumper before the final media timeout. Curry then converted a second-chance layup and laid in the aforementioned layups to put the finishing touches on a mini 6-0 run by himself.
The Blue Raiders were responsible for an old-fashioned three-point play but a steal and swooping layup by Simon made the score 77-73 with 1:39 to go. However, Middle Tennessee accumulated the next seven points of the game on the way to the victory.
UT Martin wraps up its brief two-game homestand on Tuesday, Dec. 14 with a 7 p.m. tipoff against UNC Asheville.
Graphic Courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information