By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball squad led for over 33 minutes tonight but it was a late 8-0 run in crunch time that proved to be the difference in a 65-62 triumph over Ohio Valley Conference foe Austin Peay.
The Skyhawks (5-8, 1-0 OVC) controlled the tempo for most of the contest but found themselves trailing 58-55 with 2:36 left to play. UT Martin swung the momentum with eight unanswered points before hanging on for the victory behind heroics on both sides of the ball from KJ Simon. With the Skyhawks hanging on to a one-point lead with under nine seconds to go, Simon swatted away a potential go-ahead shot. The lefty from Orlando, Fla. then calmly sank two free throws with three seconds remaining to essentially ice UT Martin’s first victory at the Winfield Dunn Center since Feb. 23, 2017.
Simon finished with a game-high 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, a career-best four blocks, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Bernie Andre came up just shy of his first Skyhawk double-double with season-highs of 14 points and nine rebounds. Mikel Henderson also came away with a bigtime performance, converting the go-ahead bucket and knocking down a pair of free throws in the final 94 seconds. The sophomore out of Kansas City, Mo. recorded a stat line of 12 points, a career-best five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
The Governors received a double-double from Caleb Stone-Carrawell (15 points, 10 rebounds) while also seeing Elijah Hutchins-Everett equal a team-high with 15 points. Austin Peay fell to 4-7 (0-1 OVC) after shooting 39.7 percent from the floor – including an 0-for-7 performance from beyond the three-point arc in the second half.
“I’m so pumped for our guys right now,” UT Martin head coach Ryan Ridder said. “We had four great days of preparation and practice after Christmas break. Tonight wasn’t pretty but we found a way to get it done – winning is really hard to do on the road. Tonight was the first time we had been in a tight game like this – we trusted our guys to make plays down the stretch and that’s what they did.”
The Skyhawks were clicking early, hitting their first four shots – including a trio of three-pointers. By the time that Simon knocked down a pull-up mid-range jumper at the 17:03 mark, the Skyhawks owned a double-digit lead at 13-2.
Henderson buried his second trey of the game – a 30-footer from the right wing – and Simon followed with a strong take to the hoop to extend UT Martin’s advantage out to 18-5 at the 13:30 mark.
After the Skyhawks limited the host Governors to just two field goals through the game’s first eight minutes, Austin Peay went on an 11-0 run to make it a one-possession contest (18-16).
A pair of Andre free throws snapped UT Martin’s scoreless streak and was soon followed by a coast-to-coast layup by Koby Jeffries to make the score 22-16 in favor of the Skyhawks.
Three ties followed before the Governors took their first lead of the half with a little over three minutes to go. Henderson (reverse layup) and Andre (left wing trifecta) accounted for the next five points but Austin Peay closed out the half with four unanswered points to take a slim 34-33 lead.
Simon pumped in a game-high 12 points at the break as UT Martin sank seven 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes. Stone-Carrawell’s 11 first-half points guided the Governors.
The Skyhawks struck first in the second half, tallying six unanswered points coming out of the locker room. A bucket inside by Nix capped off the run and provided UT Martin with a 39-34 advantage less than two minutes into the half.
Austin Peay responded with a 6-0 run of its own but Simon soon caught fire. The junior guard from Orlando, Fla. tossed in six consecutive Skyhawk points to flip the score back in favor of UT Martin (47-44) with 13:19 remaining in the outing.
Less than two minutes later, a trio of Skyhawks combined for a 7-0 run to create some separation. Josh Endicott (layup on the left block), Simon (dunk off a steal) and Andre (old-fashioned three-point play) helped extend UT Martin’s lead out to 54-46 midway through the second half.
The Governors followed with a 12-1 run with eight of those points coming from Hutchins-Everett in a five-minute span. That surge resulted in a 58-55 Skyhawk deficit with 2:36 left to play.
UT Martin then made all the big plays down the stretch, unreeling an 8-0 run over a stretch of 1:53. Simon went the length of the floor for a streaking layup before Henderson sank a tough leaner to give the Skyhawks a 59-58 lead with 1:34 to go. Andre soared high for a fast break layup and Henderson canned a pair of free throws to make the score 63-58 with 36 ticks remaining.
Austin Peay scored the next four points to make it a one-point contest (63-62) with nine seconds to go. UT Martin turned the ball over on the ensuing possession but Simon’s aforementioned block and free throws followed to clinch the win.
The Skyhawks return to action next Thursday, Jan. 6 when they head to Tennessee State for a nationally televised matchup. Tipoff from the Gentry Center is set for 6 p.m. on ESPNews.
Graphic Courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information