The UTM men’s basketball team had its fair share of heroes during tonight’s 69-66 Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) triumph over Southeast Missouri.
In a game that featured 14 lead changes and 11 ties, Jaron Williams poured in a career-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting and Ajani Kennedy scored all 13 of his season-high points in the second half for the Skyhawks. Vinnie Viana added a career-best 12 points off the bench while Kenton Eskridge dished out a career-high nine assists and made two clutch free throws with six seconds left to play to help secure the victory.
As a team, UTM set season-highs in field goal percentage (50 percent, 25-of-50), three-point field goals made (10) and three-point field goal percentage (55.6%). The Skyhawks also sank 81.8% of their free throw tries, including seven of eight attempts over the final 20 minutes to improve to 3-9 overall (2-7 OVC).
Southeast Missouri (4-10, 2-6) was led by Nana Akenten’s 18 points while Chris Harris (12 points) was the only other Redhawk to score in double figures. DQ Nicholas contributed a game-high nine rebounds and six assists for Southeast Missouri, who was forced into 15 turnovers.
“Tonight was about getting the monkey off our backs,” UTM interim head coach Montez Robinson said. “The guys put two gutsy halves together to really grind it out. I thought tonight, we came out and made extra passes every possession and really got the ball moving. It was a complete group effort all-around.”
Eman Sertovic got the Skyhawks rolling early as the 6-5, 195-pound sophomore was 3-for-3 from three-point range in the first half. His first trifecta opened the game’s scoring while Viana scored six of eight UTM points during the midway point of the opening half.
Four straight points from Williams plus two Sertovic treys and a Viana three-ball helped the Skyhawks claim a 30-25 advantage late in the first half. The Redhawks answered with a 7-0 run to briefly take the lead before a step-back jumper from Williams made the score 32-32 at the break.
Williams’ 11 points paced UT Martin while Southeast Missouri was paced by Akenten’s 14 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Anthony Thomas splashed a three-pointer from the left corner just 15 seconds into the second half before Williams scored five of the Skyhawks’ next seven points. Dante Gonzales’ first career three-pointer soon nudged UTM ahead by a 51-45 margin with 11:20 to go.
It was mostly Kennedy from there as the redshirt junior forward out of Moreno Valley, California stepped up and literally took charge late in the contest. With the Skyhawks facing a three-point deficit with five minutes remaining, the UC Riverside transfer accounted for eight consecutive UTM points over a stretch of 3:23. Mixing in an assortment of drives to the hoop, Kennedy hit a go-ahead jumper in the lane at the 1:23 mark to make the score 67-66.
The Redhawks then missed a pair of free throws but received the possession back after a Flagrant 1 foul. Ahead by one point and needing a stop, Kennedy slid in to take a charge with eight seconds to go, setting up Eskridge for the pair of aforementioned free throws.
The Skyhawks then made one final defensive stand as an errant Southeast Missouri three-point attempt landed in the hands of Sertovic for a rebound, leading to a sweep in the season series against the Redhawks for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.
UTM gets right back at it on Thursday, Jan. 28 as its six-game homestand continues against Eastern Illinois. The game, which will be the backend of a doubleheader with the women’s basketball team, will start at 8 p.m.
Photo Credit / Sports Information
