EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Four University of Tennessee at Martin scorers reached double figures this evening as the Skyhawk men’s basketball team overcame a double-digit second-half deficit in an impressive 76-71 victory over SIUE.
The win was UT Martin’s fifth consecutive triumph over the Cougars, who entered tonight with a just a half-game back of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings and with the best home record (10-1) of any team in the league.
The Skyhawks (11-15, 7-8 OVC) trailed 48-37 with 18:11 remaining but soon used a 27-7 run to go ahead by double digits (69-59) with 7:41 left to play. SIUE would not get any closer than four points the rest of the way as UT Martin made seven of its eight free throw tries over the final 47 seconds.
Tarence Guinyard led the Skyhawks in scoring for the 12th time this season, pumping in a game-high 23 points with a 4-of-9 effort from beyond the three-point line. Matija Žužić was responsible for 12 points while Josué Grullon and Afan Trnka delivered 11 and 10 points, respectively. Vladimer Salaridze (nine points, six rebounds, career-best six assists) and Filip Radaković (game-high nine rebounds) helped UT Martin outrebound the hosts by a 43-36 margin.
The Cougars (17-9, 10-5 OVC) were led by Ring Malith’s 22 points while Brian Taylor managed 16 points. Defense was key for the Skyhawks down the stretch as UT Martin limited OVC leading scorer Ray’Sean Taylor to eight points (11.2 below his season average) and held SIUE to 0-for-15 from three-point range in the second half before two treys in the final eight seconds when the outcome was essentially already decided.
“I’m just so proud of this team,” Skyhawk head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “Everybody knows we’ve been in some close ones and to come into this environment and beat one of the best teams in our league says a lot about the character of our guys. I thought our closing lineup was phenomenal. It’s hard to win any NCAA Division I game so we are going to enjoy this one before getting ready for another tough road test on Saturday.”
UT Martin led for 15:07 of clock time in the first half, starting the game on an 8-2 run. A little over midway into the half, back-to-back triples from Žužić and Guinyard pushed the Skyhawk advantage out to 30-23 at the under-eight-minute media timeout.
However, the Cougars ended the first half on a 12-2 run and took a 43-37 lead into the halftime break. Guinyard’s 14 points topped UT Martin while Malith had 15 points for SIUE, who shot 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) from three-point land in the first 20 minutes.
Trailing by double digits with under 16 minutes remaining, Žužić scored six straight points – including a four-point play – to help trim the Skyhawk deficit. Trnka then buried back-to-back three-pointers in a 30-second span to give UT Martin a 60-54 advantage thanks to 12 unanswered points by the Skyhawks.
UT Martin did not trail over the last 13-plus minutes. A trey from Guinyard provided the Skyhawks with a double-digit lead with under eight minutes to go as the UT Martin defense held the Cougars to one made field goal in a nine-plus minute stretch. Meanwhile, Grullon (5-of-6) and Radaković (2-for-2) closed out the victory with some clutch late shooting from the charity stripe.
The Skyhawks close out their road trip on Saturday, Feb. 15 against Eastern Illinois. Tipoff from Charleston, Ill. is set for 3:30 p.m. Listen to the game on Talk and News You Can Use on WCMT 92.7, 96.1, 99.7, 100.5, 103.3 and 1410.
(Photo Credit: UTM Athletics)
