By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – For the second time this season, the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad topped the century mark on the scoreboard as the Skyhawks boasted a lethal shooting touch in this afternoon’s 103-75 triumph over Bethel.
Playing in front of 3,572 fans as part of the “Character Counts” initiative that involved field trips for 20 local elementary, middle and high schools, UT Martin came out on fire and never let up – leading for 38:29 of clock time. The Skyhawks sank 17 three-pointers in 32 tries for a sizzling 53.1 percent effort, shattering the program record for most triples in a single game (previously set three times in 2015-16).
Parker Stewart led UT Martin (6-5) in scoring for the sixth time in the last seven games, accumulating 23 points thanks in large part to a 7-of-11 performance from three-point range in 24 minutes of playing time. KJ Simon equaled a season-high with 22 points while KK Curry (15 points, 10 rebounds, career-best four steals) posted the second double-double of his Skyhawk career.
Jordan Sears added 11 points to go along with season-highs of seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks while Josh Endicott narrowly missed a double-double (nine points, nine rebounds) in his first start since Nov. 9. David Kamwanga collected a career-best eight points as all 10 UT Martin players who were dressed out scored today.
Located 27 miles away in McKenzie, Tenn., Bethel (7-5) was led by Connor Guthrie’s 20 points off the bench. Querrion Gadson and Jose Nazario chipped in 14 and 13 points, respectively, for the Wildcats.
“Obviously it feels good to get a win today,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “I thought for about 32 minutes, we were locked in to play the right style of basketball. It was a good collective effort and there’s no doubt that the crowd helped us win. With an 11 a.m. tipoff, our guys came out here and saw the kids being loud, energetic and engaged – it was awesome.”
After Bethel scored the first basket of the game, UT Martin scored seven unanswered points and never looked back. Stewart drained the first of the Skyhawks’ 17 triples at the 15:41 mark of the first half before UT Martin opened up a 15-6 advantage following a Kamwanga second chance layup two minutes later.
Desmond Williams gave the Skyhawks their first double-digit lead of the day (22-12) with a three-pointer with 11:39 to go in the opening half. Simon scored six consecutive UT Martin points before back-to-back three-pointers from Stewart with just under six minutes left before the halftime break.
The Skyhawks completed the first half on a scoring flurry, piling up 11 of the final 13 points to build up a 52-32 advantage – capped off with an Endicott jumper right before the halftime buzzer. Curry’s 10 points paced UT Martin while Guthrie managed a game-high 13 points in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second half, the Skyhawks canned 11 three-pointers in 18 attempts (61.1 percent). Following dunks by Simon and Endicott on UT Martin’s first two trips down the floor, the next four Skyhawk buckets were all from downtown. Simon accounted for two of those before a Curry pull-up trifecta at the 16:12 mark pushed UT Martin’s advantage out to 68-37.
Over a span of 4:55, the Skyhawks swished six more three-pointers. Stewart began the barrage with two straight treys before Simon (5:36 to go), Williams (4:19) and Endicott (3:29) joined in on the action.
The record-setting trifecta came off the right hand of sophomore Dylan Pumpian, who connected from a 28-foot three-pointer from the left wing with 2:39 remaining in the contest. That pushed UT Martin over the 100-point plateau and gave the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the day at 101-68.
UT Martin’s next matchup is its final nonconference road outing as it travels to Bowling Green on Saturday, Dec. 17. Tipoff time is set for 1 p.m. CST.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information