The UTM men’s basketball squad led for all but 35 seconds this evening but Southeast Missouri (SEMO) staged a furious comeback attempt to stun the Skyhawks, 74-72 at the Show Me Center.
UTM (7-17, 3-10 Ohio Valley Conference) held a 13-point advantage in the first half and led 70-64 with 42 seconds remaining. However, the Redhawks scored 10 of the final 12 points of the contest.
Quintin Dove scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds for the Skyhawks before fouling out tonight. Parker Stewart added 15 points while Miles Thomas scored 12 points with five rebounds, four assists and two steals for UTM, who shot 94.1 percent (16-of-17) from the free throw line.
SEMO (6-20, 2-11 OVC) placed four scorers in double figures, led by Skyler Hogan’s 21 points. Sage Tolbert (16 points, game-high nine rebounds), Alex Caldwell (14 points, game-best seven assists) and Quatarrius Wilson (12 points) also helped carry the Redhawks down the stretch.
“We have to take care of the ball at the end of the clock and we didn’t do that late,” Skyhawk head coach Anthony Stewart said. “We have to play better.”
Stewart buried a pair of three-pointers in the first 80 seconds of the contest before Dove went on a roll, scoring nine consecutive points as UTM raced out to a 22-9 lead at the 12:19 mark. SEMO managed to get within two points with five minutes remaining but the Skyhawks nudged their lead back out to double digits (43-33) thanks to an 8-0 run to close out the half.
Dove accumulated a game-high 16 points at the break while Stewart tossed in 11 points for UTM, who connected on 60.9 percent (14-for-23) of its field goal attempts in the first half. Hogan collected a team-best 13 points for the Redhawks, who were forced into nine turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
A Derek Hawthorne, Jr. three-pointer with 16:45 remaining resulted in a 50-37 Skyhawk lead. After SEMO pulled within three points with just under nine minutes to go, UTM once again created some separation after a Dove layup at the 4:13 mark made the score 66-58. A pair of Eman Sertovic free throws with 42 seconds left to play made the score 70-64 but the Redhawks answered with a four-point play, three-pointer and layup off a turnover in the span of 12 seconds. Trailing for the first time all game, UTM got a contested look at a potential game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left but the shot wasn’t true.
The Skyhawks return home on Saturday, Feb. 15 to take on OVC foe Eastern Illinois. Tipoff time from the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center is set for approximately 4 p.m. (following the women’s game) as the backend of a doubleheader on ESPN3.
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