UT Martin men swept its fourth Ohio Valley Conference opponent Thursday achieving a 79-63 victory over Southern Indiana at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
The Skyhawks (13-17, 9-10 OVC) held the lead for 39:33 of clock time and led by as many as 21 points late in the contest. UT Martin outscored the Screaming Eagles by a 40-16 margin in the paint, outrebounded Southern Indiana 51-30 and held the visitors to 36.2 percent (21-of-57) shooting.
Several Skyhawks accounted for significant contributions tonight as Tarence Guinyard’s 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting led all scorers. Andrija Bukumirović (15 points) finished one point shy of his career-high tally while Matija Žužić and Afan Trnka also scored in double digits with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Lamine Niang hauled in a career-best 14 rebounds while Carlos Cortijo equaled a career-high with seven assists (against just one turnover).
The Screaming Eagles (10-19, 5-14 OVC) also saw four scorers land in double figures. Jayland Randall led the way with 15 points while Stephen Olowoniyi (13 points), Ryan Hall (11) and Jack Campion (10) also pitched in offensively.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” UT Martin head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “One of the toughest things as a coaching staff that we’ve struggled with this year is that I believe in so many guys that it’s hard to figure out a rotation. We played 12 guys tonight and we’re not going to be able to do that every night but tonight was fun out there. All of our guys trust and believe in each other and we showed that.”
Bukumirović knocked down triples on back-to-back possessions early to give the Skyhawks a 12-5 advantage. Midway through the first half, Guinyard scored on a pair of layups as UT Martin opened up its first double-digit lead of the evening at 23-13.
Southern Indiana went on a 10-2 run to get within two points with 4:41 to go in the opening half but the Skyhawks tallied 11 of the next 13 points – sparked by a pair of Žužić three-pointers in a 35-second stretch – to take a comfortable 41-33 lead into the locker room at the halftime break.
The Screaming Eagles would not creep any closer than six points in the entire second half. An emphatic dunk by Bukumirović and a driving layup from Guinyard helped UT Martin go back on top by double figures in the first four minutes of the final stanza.
Guinyard scored the final six points of an 8-0 run that gave the Skyhawks a 59-45 edge with 10 minutes left to play. Žužić splashed a trifecta at the 2:36 mark to give UT Martin its largest lead of the night (79-58) as the Skyhawks won going away.
UT Martin hosts Morehead State for Senior Day in the regular season finale on Saturday, March 1. The game tips off at 3:30 p.m. as a ceremony to honor the career contributions of Vladimer Salaridze and David Kamwanga will take place before the start of the contest. Listen at WCMT AM 1410 and on 92.7, 96.1, 99.7, 100.5 and 103.3 FM and on line at Thunderboltradio.com
