The Skyhawk’s shaky play continued this week as the Skyhawks fell to 6-4 SEMO, 79-90, and 7-4 Little Rock, 57-75, to move to 5-7 in the OVC and 9-14 overall.
Despite a loss to the SEMO Redhawks on Saturday, the Skyhawks saw one of their best individual performances. Junior guard Josué Grullon posted an individual season-high for the Skyhawks of 31 points; matched only by Tarence Guinyard who had 31 points of his own in a win over Western Illinois.
Unfortunately for the Skyhawks, Grullon’s efforts would be in vain against the Redhawks. The next best performer for the Skyhawks would be Guinyard, who had 12 points on 12 shots.
The Skyhawks would stay just out of striking distance throughout the contest against the Redhawks as the teams consistently traded baskets. The closest the Skyhawks would come would be a seven-point deficit late in the second half that would not be matched or surpassed by the Skyhawks for the remainder of the game.
The Redhawks’ scoring output was bolstered by five players with 10 or more points. Leading the pack was junior guard Braxton Stacker with 19 points on just eight shots. Junior guard Rob Martin (18 points), sophomore guard BJ Ward (15 points), senior guard Teddy Washington Jr. (11 points) and senior guard TJ Biel (11 points) also contributed mightily to the Redhawks’ victory.
Despite the Skyhawks winning the second half 46-44, it simply was not enough to recover from the 13-point hole they found themselves in going into it and they would drop to 5-6 in the OVC and 9-13 overall.
Following the loss, the Skyhawks would travel to Arkansas where they would fall to another powerhouse OVC opponent in the 8-3 Little Rock Trojans.
What was a competitive game going into halftime for the Skyhawks, slowly became a comfortable win for the Trojans. After trading back and forth for the entirety of the first half, the Skyhawks would find themselves with a one-point lead over the Trojans.
However, the lead would not last long, as the Trojans came out of halftime with a different energy about them and handled business, outscoring the Skyhawks 21-40 on their way to an 18-point victory over the Skyhawks.
Leading the Skyhawks for the second game in a row was Grullon, who tallied a near double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Skyhawks.
Behind Grullon followed four Skyhawks who tallied nine or more points, most of which was Guinyard with 11 points and five assists. Behind him were senior forward Vladimer Salaridze, sophomore guard Afan Trnka and junior guard/forward Matija Žužić who each had nine points respectively.
“It’s a grind and we look forward to playing at home next week,” Skyhawk head coach Jeremy Shulman said following the team’s four-game slide in the OVC.
Looking ahead, the Skyhawks will be in the Elam center for two OVC matchups. The first of which will be against the 5-7 Lindenwood Lions on Thursday, February 6, at 7:30 p.m. with the next being against the 2-10 Western Illinois Leathernecks on Saturday, February 8, at 3:30 p.m..
