For the first time since the 1989-90 season, the UTM men’s basketball squad is 3-0 as the Skyhawks grinded through a 69-67 triumph at Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) foe Southeast Missouri (SEMO) this evening.
UTM led for 36:15 of game time – holding a double-digit lead in the first half – but the host Redhawks tied the score at 67-all with eight seconds remaining. The Skyhawks elected to not call a timeout as Eden Holt received the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court, pulling up for a 15-foot jumper from the right baseline that rattled in for the game-winner with 0.2 seconds left.
Cameron Holden notched the first double-double of his budding UTM career tonight with game-highs of 24 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Jaron Williams (13 points) and Holt (10 points, team-best five assists) joined Holden in double figures scoring while Kenton Eskridge and Anthony Thomas tossed in nine points apiece.
“The toughness that our team brought today was unbelievable,” Skyhawk interim head coach Montez Robinson said. “Eden makes big shots – we wanted to keep the ball in his hands late down the stretch and let him make a play. Cameron is a junkyard dog – he’s hard to guard. He gets us big timely offensive rebounds and is a post-up machine who is going to battle and get to the free throw line. It was a resilient team victory.”
SEMO (2-4, 0-1 OVC) was led by Chris Harris’ 23 points. DQ Nicholas and Eric Reed, Jr. scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Redhawks.
Holden set the tone early for UTM, scoring the Skyhawks’ first seven points of the game. Williams swished a three-pointer at the 10:15 mark of the first half to cap off a 10-2 run and provide UTM with a 19-8 lead.
SEMO soon followed with a 12-0 run to claim its first advantage of the game. The lead traded hands seven times over the final 6:30 of the opening half before the two sides settled on a 31-31 score at the break.
Holden’s nine points guided the Skyhawks while Harris tallied 12 points in the first 20 minutes for the Redhawks.
A trifecta by Williams and an old-fashioned three-point play by Holden quickly pushed UTM’s lead back out to six points less than two minutes into the second stanza.
After SEMO trimmed its deficit to one point, the Skyhawk defense ramped up and held the Redhawks to zero field goals over a 6:16 stretch. As a result, UTM built up a 45-38 advantage after a putback jumper by Thomas midway through the second half.
SEMO began to heat up from three-point range down the stretch but the Skyhawks never played from behind in the second half. Eskridge sank a straightaway three-pointer late in the shot clock to snap a 54-54 tie with 5:18 remaining and Holden soon reeled off four consecutive points.
An Ajani Kennedy tip-in at the 1:18 mark provided UTM with a 67-62 lead but the Redhawks managed to tie things up with a Harris corner trey with eight seconds to go. Holt then drove coast-to-coast for another clutch shot, just 16 days after his game-tying three-pointer sent the Evansville game into overtime.
The Skyhawks face a quick turnaround before their next game – a home outing against Western Illinois on Sunday, Dec. 20. Tipoff time from the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center will be at 5 p.m. in a contest that was just announced on Thursday.
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