Cameron Holden, a junior forward on the UTM men’s basketball team, made a bid at school history this evening but the Skyhawks fell by a 113-73 margin at Eastern Kentucky.
Holden ended his night with team-highs of 20 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and two steals – nearly becoming only the fifth UTM player to amass a triple-double. It marked his fourth double-double of the season (all in Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) play) while his seven assists more than doubled his career-high (previously three at Tennessee State on Jan. 7).
The Skyhawks also saw Anthony Thomas (16 points) and Kenton Eskridge (season-best 10 points) score in double-figures while Trey Fort equaled a career-high with eight points in just 11 minutes. Ajani Kennedy contributed seven rebounds and a career-high three blocks for UTM (3-8, 1-6 OVC), who trailed by just seven points at the halftime break but could not fend off a dangerous shooting Colonel squad over the final 20 minutes.
Eastern Kentucky (13-2, 7-1 OVC) made 20 three-pointers in 37 tries, connecting for 54.1 percent of its attempts from deep. Wendell Green, Jr. led the way with 25 points while Michael Moreno followed closely behind with 23 points. Curt Lewis and Devontae Blanton also chipped in 19 points apiece for the Colonels, who won their eighth straight game.
“Give credit to Eastern Kentucky – they made some tough shots with our hands in their faces and the basket just got big for them,” Skyhawk interim head coach Montez Robinson said. “We had some turnovers that led to easy fast break opportunities. We wasted a couple of timeouts early during their press and we couldn’t use those to stop the bleeding while they made their run in the second half.”
Holden scored four of UTM’s first six points as the Skyhawks built up a 6-2 advantage. The Colonels responded with 10 unanswered points but UTM kept battling – eventually trimming its deficit to 19-16 after an old-fashioned three-point play by Holden at the 11:02 mark.
After Eastern Kentucky stretched its advantage out to a dozen points, the Skyhawks reeled off eight unanswered to claw right back in it. The Colonels quickly went back ahead by double digits before Jaron Williams nailed a three-pointer from the right corner just before the halftime buzzer to make the score 46-39.
Holden and Lewis were the top scorers for their respective sides in the first half, as both players tallied 14 points each. UTM shot an even 52 percent (13-of-26) from the floor and 92.3 percent (12-for-13) from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes but Eastern Kentucky made eight three-pointers compared to the Skyhawks’ one.
Jumpers by Williams and Eskridge opened the second half scoring for UTM as the Skyhawks found themselves down just five points (48-43) with 18:45 left to play. The Colonels then scored nine of the game’s next 11 points.
Thomas threw down a dunk at the 13:48 mark to pull UTM back within single digits at 59-51. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way as Eastern Kentucky hit 10 three-pointers over the final 9:07 of the contest.
UTM concludes its brief two-game road swing on Saturday, Jan. 23 when it takes on OVC rival Morehead State. Tipoff time from Ellis T. Johnson Arena is set for 3 p.m. CST.
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