By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The University of Tennessee at Martin pair of KJ Simon and Mikel Henderson combined for 43 points this evening but Southeast Missouri made enough plays down the stretch to hand the Skyhawks a 76-69 setback at the Show Me Center.
In a game that featured 10 lead changes and five tie scores, UT Martin led at the 7-minute mark and was within a single possession with two minutes to play. However, the Redhawks wrapped up the contest with eight of the final 12 points.
Simon collected 24 points, a team-best seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals for the Skyhawks (8-21, 4-13 Ohio Valley Conference). Henderson posted a career-best 19 points to go along with a game-high four assists as that duo combined to sink seven of the team’s eight 3-pointers.
Bernie Andre contributed 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting for UT Martin, who held Southeast Missouri to 20 percent (3-for-15) shooting from three-point range but was outshot by a 32-13 margin at the free throw line.
The Redhawks (13-16, 8-8 OVC) placed three scorers in double figures, led by Eric Reed, Jr.’s 21 points. Manny Patterson and Phillip Russell pitched in 16 and 10 points, respectively, for Southeast Missouri.
“It was tough for us all night,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “We couldn’t get stops when we needed to. Southeast Missouri is a really good team at home and they have a lot of talent. We played really hard but just couldn’t find a way to close out the game down the stretch.”
The Redhawks scored eight of the first 10 points before UT Martin got into the swing of things. Andre drilled a fast break three-pointer before a Simon dunk off a baseline drive and a Chris Nix layup swung the score back in favor of the Skyhawks at 9-8.
Henderson soon scored four straight UT Martin points before Simon took over with seven consecutive Skyhawk points as the score was tied at 22-all at the under-8 media timeout.
Southeast Missouri came back with a 7-2 run but a free throw from Henderson with 2:04 remaining in the first half whittled UT Martin’s deficit to 31-30. The Redhawks responded with the next seven points of the contest, helping them take a 40-32 lead into the halftime break.
Simon’s 15 points led all scorers at the half while Patterson (12) and Reed (11) each scored in double digits in the opening 20 minutes.
The Skyhawks began the second stanza on a 12-2 surge, starting with a trey from Henderson. Nix (free throw), Simon (three-pointer) and Andre (fast break layup) helped UT Martin chip away until an old-fashioned three-point play from Henderson at the 15:44 mark nudged the Skyhawks ahead by a 44-42 margin.
A three-pointer by Simon and driving layup from Josiah Morris helped UT Martin maintain a three-point advantage with 12:24 to go.
Moments later, Southeast Missouri briefly took a lead but Andre put the Skyhawks back on top. The graduate transfer out of North Miami Beach, Fla. sank a turnaround hook shot and a second-chance layup from an offensive rebound to make the score 59-56 in favor of UT Martin with 7:31 left to play.
The Redhawks scored the next eight points but a Nix free throw and another Andre hook pulled the Skyhawks within two points at 64-62. Southeast Missouri scored on layups on its next two trips down the floor before Henderson splashed a deep triple at the 2:43 mark – shaving UT Martin’s deficit to a single possession at 68-65. However, that would be as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way.
UT Martin concludes the 2021-22 regular season on Saturday, Feb. 26 when it travels to cross-state OVC foe Tennessee Tech. Tipoff from the Hooper Eblen Center is set for 7:30 p.m.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information