After a 3-0 start to the 2020-21 regular season, a slow start to the Skyhawks’ Dec. 20 matchup against the Western Illinois Leathernecks helped seal a 63-81 defeat for UTM, ending their unbeaten streak.
Junior forward Cameron Holden served as the Skyhawks’ workhorse throughout the game, leading the team in points (12), rebounds (5) and tied the team lead in steals with one. Freshman guard Anthony Thomas was the Skyhawks’ only other double-digit pointer-scorer with 10 points off the bench.
The Leathernecks featured four double-digit scorers, with forward Will Carius leading the game with 18 points. Fellow Leatherneck forward Cameron Burrell was the only player to post a double-double, recording 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Skyhawks started the match off on a bad note with a missed jumper by junior forward Ajani Kennedy. A three-pointer by Carius at the 19:23 mark kicked off the Leathernecks’ offense. A jumper in the paint by Eskridge got the Skyhawks on the board at 18:48, setting the score at 5-2 in favor of Western Illinois.
The Leathernecks responded quickly after, extending their lead to 11-2 in under a minute and a half. After a three-pointer by Carius at 17:51 that gave Western Illinois a nine-point lead, both squads failed to get on the board again until 14:47 when a layup by the Leathernecks broke the multi-minute drought. Thomas responded for the Skyhawks with a three-pointer almost immediately, but UTM would again fall into another scoring drought.
By the time the Skyhawks got into the double-digits at the 11:11 mark, they faced a tough 10-20 deficit. With a couple of three-pointers, Holden’s work in the paint brought the Skyhawks into a manageable 22-17 deficit. However, when Holden subbed out at 8:35, the Skyhawks were only able to score nine more points for the remainder of the first.
The Skyhawks went into the second half trailing 41-26, which the Leathernecks increased to 44-26 only fifteen seconds in with a three from Carius. For the remainder of the contest, UTM’s deficit fluctuated between 20 and 26 points up until the very end, when a couple of free throws from junior guard Malik Moving cut the deficit down to 18 points at the end of regulation.
While the Skyhawks doubled the amount of points the Leathernecks had on fast-breaks (21-11), the Leathernecks were able to capitalize off of turnovers (12 points off of 14 turnovers) and dominate the paint, outscoring UTM 32-20 in that area.
Head coach Montez Robinson noted that the UTM squad had just recently come off of quarantine in his post-game press conference, but didn’t blame the loss on this.
“We just gotta be better, we gotta execute. We gotta go out without fouling, we got start boxing out at the free-throw line,” said Robinson. “They came up with like with four or five big, huge free-throw line rebounds. We just gotta be better.”
The Skyhawks will close out their non-conference schedule against Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi on Dec. 22.
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