CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Josué Grullon dialed up a career-best 31 points this evening for the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team but it wasn’t enough as Southeast Missouri defeated the Skyhawks by a 90-79 margin at the Show Me Center.
Grullon topped the 20-plus point plateau for the seventh time in 2024-25, shooting 7-of-14 from the floor (including 5-of-8 from three-point land). The junior guard out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic also added a perfect 12-for-12 effort from the charity stripe, coming up just two makes shy of tying the school record for most free throws without a miss in a single game. He also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for UT Martin (9-13, 5-6 Ohio Valley Conference).
Tarence Guinyard added a dozen points for the Skyhawks while Carlos Cortijo managed nine points and a team-best five assists for UT Martin, who whittled a 19-point second-half deficit down to seven with 4:37 remaining but wouldn’t get any closer than that the rest of the way.
The Redhawks (12-10, 7-4 OVC) had five scorers in double figures, paced by Braxton Stacker’s 19 points. Rob Martin (18 points), BJ Ward (15), Teddy Washington, Jr. (11) and TJ Biel (11) additionally helped carry the offensive load for Southeast Missouri, who shot 63.5 percent (33-for-52) from the field.
“I’m proud of our guys for competing,” Skyhawk head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “There are so many good teams in this conference but I’m not so sure that Southeast Missouri isn’t the best – they played fantastic. There’s no margin for error in this league and we didn’t come out ready to go. Sometimes it’s just one of those nights – we’ll regroup before Saturday.”
The Redhawks went on a 17-4 run in the early portion of the first half before back-to-back buckets from Lamine Niang trimmed Southeast Missouri’s lead to 21-15 at the 11:46 mark of the first half.
Grullon’s stroke from long range shortly thereafter got UT Martin back in the game. He swished four trifectas in a span of 2:56 to pull the Skyhawks within striking distance at 33-29 at the under-4-minute media timeout.
However, the Redhawks ended the first half on a 10-2 run to take a 46-33 advantage into the locker room. Grullon’s 14 points led all scorers at the halftime break.
Southeast Missouri scored the first six points of the second half, taking a 52-33 lead in the process. Matija Žužić sank a pair of three-pointers in a 78-second stretch while Grullon accounted for seven straight UT Martin points to help the Skyhawks get within single digits.
Three more Grullon free throws with 4:37 to go made the score 77-70 but the Redhawks hit three-pointers on their next two possessions and the Skyhawks could not dig their way out of the hole.
For its next outing, UT Martin will play in front of a nationally televised audience when the Skyhawks take on Little Rock. Tipoff from the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday, Feb. 1 on WCMT 1410 and 100.5 FM
(Photo Credit: UTM Athletics)
