By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team never trailed Saturday, building up a 19-point lead before hanging on down the stretch for an impressive 75-67 victory at Bowling Green.
A 12-0 run and a hard-nosed defensive effort helped the Skyhawks take a 39-23 advantage into the locker room at the halftime break. The Falcons clawed back to get within two points with nine minutes remaining in the contest but UT Martin fended off the hosts and posted its first road victory of the season in the process.
Jordan Sears tied a season-high with 18 points today to lead all scorers. The sophomore guard out of Daytona Beach, Fla. added five rebounds, a team-high four assists and season-best three steals in 30 minutes for the Skyhawks (7-5).
Backcourt teammates Desmond Williams (season-high 15 points on five 3-pointers) and KJ Simon (12 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals, two blocks) also reached double figures in the scoring column for UT Martin. Chris Nix grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to help the Skyhawks win the battle on the glass by a 44-39 margin.
Bowling Green (4-7) was led by 15 points apiece from Leon Ayers III and Willie Lightfoot. Kaden Metheny’s 12 points and Samari Curtis’ 10 points completed the double-digit scorers for the Falcons, who were held to 37.9 percent (22-of-58) shooting and 8-for-27 (29.6 percent) from three-point land.
Simon got the offense going with a jumper 18 seconds into the game. He would add a dunk – sandwiched between a layup and three-pointer from Sears – to help UT Martin to a 9-2 advantage at the first media timeout.
Seven different Skyhawks accounted for the squad’s next 17 points as the aforementioned 12 unanswered points resulted in a 26-11 UT Martin lead. A steal and fast break layup from Sears at the 5:26 mark of the opening half extended the Skyhawk advantage out to 26-11.
Williams canned a pair of trifectas in a span of 1:16 in the waning stages of the first half. Sears knocked down a triple with under a minute to go in the first half to stretch UT Martin’s lead out to 18 points before the Skyhawks settled for a 39-23 edge after 20 minutes of play.
Sears had 10 points at the intermission but the story was UT Martin’s swarming defense. The Skyhawks limited Bowling Green to a paltry 27.6 percent (8-of-29) shooting percentage, including 18.2 percent (2-for-11) from beyond the three-point arc. Ayers’ 12 points paced the Falcons in the first half.
UT Martin endured many Bowling Green surges in crunch time to emerge victorious. The Falcons scored eight of the first 11 points of the second half before a Simon three-pointer sparked a 10-3 Skyhawk run. Sears had five points during that stretch as his layup with 14:56 remaining made the score 52-34 in UT Martin’s favor.
A pair of free throws from David Kamwanga opened up a 19-point lead for the Skyhawks with 14 minutes to go – their biggest advantage of the afternoon.
Bowling Green hit back-to-back three-pointers over a 10-second stretch and eventually used a 13-0 run to pull within a single possession (56-54) at the 9:12 mark. Williams buried a huge three-pointer on UT Martin’s next trip down the floor and drilled another trey with 7:39 to go to stretch the Skyhawk lead out to 64-57.
A thunderous dunk by Curry nudged UT Martin’s advantage to 66-57 with a little under six minutes to go and the Falcons never got within five points the rest of the way.
The Skyhawks round out their nonconference schedule on Monday, Dec. 19 when they host Crowley’s Ridge at 6 p.m. in the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information