By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball struggled on the offensive side of the ball this evening in a 58-53 setback to Eastern Illinois at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
The Skyhawks (7-14, 3-6 Ohio Valley Conference) scored a season-low 53 points while shooting 13.6 percent (3-of-22) from three-point range. Despite the fact that the Panthers shot 53.8 percent (21-for-39) from the field, the contest was tied with two minutes remaining but Eastern Illinois ended the game on a 9-4 run.
Bernie Andre piled up 18 points and a season-best 12 rebounds tonight for his third straight double-double. He became the first UT Martin player to post three consecutive double-doubles since Javier Martinez produced seven in a row during the 2016-17 campaign.
KK Curry also performed well with 16 points, five rebounds and career-bests of three blocks and two steals for the Skyhawks. Koby Jeffries garnered game-highs with five assists and four steals for UT Martin, who won the battle on the glass (34-28) and forced the Panthers into 17 turnovers.
Eastern Illinois (3-17, 1-6 OVC) had six players score at least six points, led by Sammy Friday IV’s 13 points. Kejuan Clements added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Panthers.
“I thought we were casual with our approach,” Skyhawk head coach Ryan Ridder said. “I give Eastern Illinois a lot of credit – they had a gameplan and they slowed us down, we couldn’t score in transition. They controlled the tempo and the game was played on their terms. We have to find out how to be a better basketball team.”
After Eastern Illinois scored the first four points of the game, a Curry layup at the 16:29 mark of the first half gave UT Martin its first lead of the night at 7-6. The Panthers answered with an 8-0 run before a Josh Endicott free throw ended the Skyhawk drought with 12:34 remaining before the halftime break.
UT Martin found itself in a seven-point hole at the 11:20 mark but used some momentum to tie the score at 17-all with a little over seven minutes to go in the opening stanza. Chris Nix (layup), Curry (free theow and driving layup) and Jeffries (stepback 15-foot jumper) provided the Skyhawks with buckets during the run that lasted 2:39.
It was mostly a one-possession game for the remainder of the half until Eastern Illinois scored the final four points to take a 30-23 advantage at the break.
Curry (nine) and Andre (seven) combined for 16 of UT Martin’s 23 points in the opening 20 minutes while Friday had 10 points to guide the Panthers.
The Skyhawk tandem of KJ Simon (six) and Curry (five) unreeled the squad’s first 11 points in the second half. Back-to-back buckets from Simon in a 47-second span pulled UT Martin back within two points at 35-33 with 11:44 remaining.
Eastern Illinois scored seven of the next eight points but the Skyhawks began to slowly chip away at their deficit. Following a David Didenko three-pointer from the right wing, Simon converted an old-fashioned three-point play to even the score at 47-all with 2:35 to go.
After an Andre turnaround jumper in the lane kept the game knotted at 49-49, the Panthers tallied six straight points. Andre managed two free throws and a tip-in layup from that point forward but UT Martin couldn’t get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
A road contest at in-state OVC rival Belmont is up next for the Skyhawks as they will tip off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29 at the Curb Event Center in Nashville.
Graphic Courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information