Jaron Williams pumped in a game-high 20 points for the UTM men’s basketball team but it wasn’t enough as the host SIUE Cougars claimed a 66-53 win at the Vadalabene Center. The loss officially eliminates the Skyhawks from Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Tournament contention.
Tonight marked the fifth time this season that Williams topped UTM in scoring as the junior forward from Rock Hill, SC made eight of his 12 shot attempts and added career-highs in assists (four) and steals (four).
Eman Sertovic (eight points, team-high six rebounds) was the next highest scorer for the Skyhawks, who forced 20 turnovers but fell to 7-16 overall with a 5-14 OVC mark.
SIUE (9-15, 7-11 OVC) was led by Shamar Wright’s 17 points while Lamar Wright tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Adewunmi and Desmond Polk provided 16 and 10 points, respectively, for the Cougars.
Williams canned a three-pointer for UTM’s first bucket of the game – giving the Skyhawks their first lead of the contest. Sertovic and Kenton Eskridge tacked on three-pointers in the span of 43 seconds to keep UTM ahead by a 13-12 margin at the first media timeout.
SIUE responded with 11 unanswered points before a layup from Ajani Kennedy ended the Skyhawk drought. UTM continued to chip away as a fast break jumper by Williams at the 1:44 mark whittled the Skyhawk deficit to 31-24.
After both sides swapped baskets, the Cougars made a pair of free throws right before the halftime buzzer to take a 35-26 advantage at the break.
UTM was led by Williams’ nine points in the opening half while both Lamar Wright (13) and Shamar Wright (11) had cracked double figures in the scoring column during the first 20 minutes for SIUE.
The Cougars started the second half on a 12-2 run for their biggest lead of the day at 47-28. The Skyhawk deficit remained at 19 with 12:42 remaining but Williams quickly got hot. During one span that lasted 5:47, he turned in nine out of 11 UTM points, trimming the SIUE lead down to 12 in the process. However, that was as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way.
UTM concludes the 2020-21 campaign on Saturday, Feb. 27 when it travels to Eastern Illinois. Tipoff from Lantz Arena in Charleston, Illinois is set for 4 p.m.
