By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – After combining to make 16 three-pointers in its first three games of the 2022-23 season, the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad connected on a dozen trifectas tonight alone in a 96-53 triumph over Harris-Stowe.
KJ Simon pieced together a great all-around performance with team-highs in points (18), rebounds (seven) and assists (five) while contributing three steals in 22 minutes to lead the Skyhawks. It marked the third time in four chances this season that the senior guard out of Orlando, Fla. has topped the team in scoring.
Parker Stewart scored 14 points with a career-best six steals, five rebounds and three assists while Jalen Myers tallied 10 points in 17 minutes off the bench. The Skyhawks (2-2) shot 87.5 percent (14-for-16) from the free throw line, committed only nine turnovers and held a 25-7 advantage in fast break points this evening.
Harris-Stowe, a NAIA school located in St. Louis, Mo., placed Alex Nunnally (14 points) and Ken Martin (11) in double figures in the scoring column. The Hornets were forced into 19 turnovers and shot just 22.6 percent (7-of-31) in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought we saw a pretty mature approach for the most part,” UT Martin head coach Ryan Ridder said. “We were a little slow out of the gate, I didn’t love our defensive effort in the first half but give our guys credit – we challenged them at halftime to be much better on the defensive side. We’re still a work in progress but it’s always good to get a win.”
After the Hornets scored the first four points of the game, the Skyhawks went on a 13-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way. Stewart swished a pair of three-pointers in a 70-second span before a high-flying slam dunk from Simon made the score 13-4 at the 15:41 mark.
A Eurostep driving layup from Koby Jeffries with 12:34 to go before the halftime break extended UT Martin’s lead out to 22-10. Soon thereafter, Harris-Stowe used an 8-2 run to pull within a single possession (31-28) with six minutes remaining in the opening half but the Skyhawks responded with an 8-2 run of their own.
UT Martin accounted for the final 10 points of the first half – the last six of which came on dunks (one from Jordan Sears, two from Simon). As a result, the Skyhawks took a 49-32 lead into the locker room at the break.
Simon’s 14 points led all scorers at halftime while Nunnally accounted for 12 points for the Hornets.
A dunk from Chris Nix began the scoring in the second half before a KK Curry driving layup pushed UT Martin’s lead out to 57-36. A 7-0 Skyhawk surge was on tap, featuring four points out of Rifen Miguel and a three-pointer from Desmond Williams to make the score 66-39 at the under-12 media timeout.
UT Martin then heated up from downtown as four straight field goals came from beyond the three-point arc. Koby Jeffries, Myers, Williams and Stewart all splashed trifectas in a span of 2:47 as the Skyhawk lead ballooned out to 83-47 with seven minutes to go.
The game ended on another lengthy run as UT Martin was responsible for the final 10 points. David Kamwanga scored five of those points while a three-pointer from Dylan Pumpian at the 2:05 mark was the 12th and final three-pointer of the evening for the Skyhawks.
UT Martin returns to the hardwood on Friday, Nov. 18 when it travels to Ole Miss out of the Southeastern Conference. Tipoff from Oxford, Miss. is set for 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information