The Skyhawks traveled to Edwardsville, Illinois, to take on the Southern Illinois (SIUE) Cougars, escaping with a 79-76 win.
UTM rolled out with four-time Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Player of the Week sophomore guard Parker Stewart to headline the starting five for the Skyhawks. Freshman guard Ja’Darius Harris, junior forward Miles Thomas, senior guard Derek Hawthorne, Jr. and junior center Jordan Pierce rounded out the starting lineup.
Despite not being a part of that starting five, senior forward Quintin Dove led the Skyhawks in points with 18. Stewart and Harris both tied for second on the team, with both scoring 16 points each.
On the defensive side of the ball, Hawthorne stood out with six defensive rebounds (led team with nine in total) to prevent the Cougars from capitalizing on some crucial opportunities. Stewart also contributed defensively with three steals.
The Skyhawks had the advantage on rebounds, beating SIUE 31-27 in that department. UTM also turned the ball over less than the Cougars by an 8-12 margin.
UTM shooting was consistent across field goals and three-pointers over the course of the game, shooting 47.3% and 42.3%, respectively. The Cougars outshot the Skyhawks on field goals with a 53.7 shooting percentage.
UTM’s shooting attempts were much more successful going into the second half. Though field goal attempts decreased from 32 to 23 from the first to the second half, the Skyhawks improved from 37.50% to 60.87%. Three-point shooting percentage followed the same trend, declining from 16 to 10 attempts but improving from 31.25% to 60%.
Shooting woes hurt the Skyhawks in the first half and resulted in the team being down 33-40 going into halftime. However, UTM came back onto the court with a vengeance, scoring 45 points in the second. Harris and Hawthorne combined for 24 points and Stewart recorded two steals.
The Skyhawks jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, maintaining that lead until 15:36 in the first. Despite losing the lead, UTM only trailed by seven going into the half.
SIUE clinged on to their lead throughout most of the second half, extending it to a 9 point lead at 10:49, UTM’s largest deficit in the game. A steal by Thomas allowed him to score a fast-break dunk that gave the Skyhawks the lead. However, the Skyhawks surrendered he lead multiple times before some free throws by Thomas with under a minute left provided UTM the lead permanently.
The Skyhawks improve to 6-13 on the season, and will face Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 30) and Morehead State (Feb. 1) on the road before returning home Feb. 6 to take on Tennessee Tech.
Four-time OVC Player of the Week Parker Stewart.
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