The UTM men’s basketball team received sound play from Cameron Holden this evening but the Murray State Racers proved to be too much in an 84-55 Skyhawk setback at the CFSB Center.
Holden secured his fifth double-double against Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) competition, dialing up 19 points and 14 rebounds. The junior out of Forsyth, Georgia, shot 7-of-13 from the floor and made four of his five field goal tries while also adding a pair of steals in 28 minutes of playing time.
Holden was the only UTM scorer in double figures as Ajani Kennedy and Jaron Williams finished with eight and seven points, respectively. The Skyhawks (7-13, 5-11 OVC) had 10 different players score but shot 34.0% (18-of-53) from the field.
Murray State improved to 11-9 overall and 8-7 in OVC play after Tevin Brown collected a game-high 25 points. KJ Williams (15 points, 16 rebounds), Chico Carter, Jr. (17 points) and Demond Robinson (10 points) also led the way for the Racers.
“We didn’t guard well in the first half and you can’t let that happen against a good team like Murray State,” UTM interim head coach Montez Robinson said. “I was pleased with the way the guys came out and fought in the second half. We want to be a 40-minute team but we haven’t consistently put two halves together. We control our own destiny – we have four games left but we are going to take them one at a time. We just need to consistently do the little things night-in and night-out.”
UTM’s frontcourt accounted for the team’s first 19 points of the night. Kennedy knocked down a pair of three-pointers and had eight points in the first 10:48 while Holden chipped in seven points in the game’s opening 12 minutes.
Murray State used an 11-3 run early to take a double-digit lead for a majority of the first half. Williams sank a pair of free throws at the 7:35 mark to get the Skyhawks back within 10 points at 29-19 but the Racers immediately went on a 12-0 run on their way to a 46-23 halftime advantage.
Kennedy (eight points) and Cameron Holden (seven points, game-high eight rebounds) paced UTM in the opening 20 minutes. Meanwhile, Brown (20) and Carter (13) had already reached double-digits in the scoring column for Murray State at the break.
Trey Fort knocked down a pair of three-pointers in a span of 1:40 in the second half – igniting a 19-7 Skyhawk surge. UTM received buckets from five different players during that run (Fort, Anthony Thomas, Williams, Holden, Eman Sertovic).
However, the Skyhawks had already found themselves in too big of a hole as the Racers maintained their advantage throughout the second half.
UTM returns to the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center for its final two home games of the 2020-21 season next week, taking on Eastern Kentucky at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 18 before squaring off against Morehead State at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20.
