By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – KJ Simon, a senior guard on the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team, scored the 1,000th point of his collegiate career this afternoon but the Skyhawks dropped a tough 84-80 decision to Tennessee Tech in overtime.
Simon scored a team-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and three steals for UT Martin, who is now 10-7 overall with a 2-2 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play. The 6-3, 195-pound lefty, who has scored 760 of his points over the last two seasons in a Skyhawk uniform after spending his first two years at Troy, reached the 1,000-point milestone with a dunk at the 4:56 mark of the first half.
Parker Stewart collected 18 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals while Koby Jeffries registered a career-best 15 points (on 7-of-10 shooting) and team-high four assists for UT Martin. The Skyhawks also received seven points, a team-best nine rebounds and game-high three blocked shots out of Chris Nix but were defeated inside the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center for the first time in 10 tries this season.
Tennessee Tech (6-11, 2-2 OVC) put five scorers in double figures, led by 23 points from Jayvis Harvey. The Golden Eagles additionally saw Jaylen Sebree (14), Ty Perry (13), Diante Wood (10) and Brett Thompson (10) score in double digits as they shot 43.3 percent (13-of-30) from three-point range.
“I thought right from the get-go I didn’t think we had enough urgency to guard them,” UT Martin head coach Ryan Ridder said. “Give Tennessee Tech credit – they played a small-ball five and we didn’t do a good enough job of preparing our guys to be ready for that. It’s a disappointing result for us – our defensive effort in the second half was good enough to give us a chance to win but we have to grow and get better. We’re a good basketball team – we just didn’t play our best tonight.”
The Golden Eagles scored eight of the first 10 points of the game before Simon got going – scoring three straight buckets to pull the Skyhawks within two points. A driving layup from Jeffries at the 13:47 mark equaled the score at 14-all.
After Desmond Williams nailed a trey to keep the score tied (21-21), Tennessee Tech made three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor. KK Curry converted a tough layup with 7:40 to go before the halftime break to tie the contest at 29-29 but the Golden Eagles eventually concluded the opening half on a 7-2 run to lead 46-40 going into the locker room.
Simon’s 10 points led UT Martin in the first half while Harvey (15) and Perry (10) both scored in double figures in first 20 minutes.
Tennessee Tech accounted for six of the first seven points of the second half, taking a 52-41 advantage with 17:47 remaining in regulation.
The Skyhawks responded with nine unanswered points, capped off with three-pointers from Jalen Myers and Williams with just under 15 minutes left to play in the second half. A stepback trifecta from Stewart at the 12:14 mark resulted in a 54-54 tie before a quick 6-0 run gave UT Martin its first lead of the day. Myers connected on back-to-back buckets before a pull-up jumper from Simon extended the Skyhawk lead out to 60-57 with nine minutes remaining in the half.
Moments later, an 8-2 Golden Eagle run flipped the score back in favor of Tennessee Tech. UT Martin took a 71-69 lead following a Simon dunk on the right baseline with 1:10 to go in regulation. However, the Golden Eagles responded with a floater on the ensuing possession to send the contest into overtime.
The two sides swapped buckets through the first 3:01 of overtime, leading to the 16th tie of the game after a Jeffries driving layup made the score 78-78. Tennessee Tech was able to score the next six points, hitting four free throws in the final 22 seconds to claim the win.
The Skyhawks go on the road for their next three games, beginning with a Thursday, Jan. 12 matchup at Tennessee State. Tipoff from the Gentry Center in Nashville is set for 8 p.m.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information