OVC PLAY BEGINS WITH HEARTBREAKING OVERTIME SETBACK FOR UT MARTIN MEN’S HOOPS AT EASTERN ILLINOIS

Thursday, January 3

Charleston, Ill.

7:30 P.M.

UT Martin

5-7, 0-1OVC

Eastern Illinois

8-6, 1-0OVC

OT 1

UT Martin

Eastern Illinois

OVC PLAY BEGINS WITH HEARTBREAKING OVERTIME SETBACK FOR UT MARTIN MEN’S HOOPS AT EASTERN ILLINOIS

1/3/2019 11:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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CHARLESTON, Ill. – The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team led by nine points with under seven minutes to go tonight at Eastern Illinois but the host Panthers rallied and eventually won in overtime, 92-87, in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.

Delfincko Bogan knocked down a three-pointer from the right corner to nudge the Skyhawks ahead by a 67-58 – UT Martin's biggest lead of the night – with 7:01 left in the second half. Another clutch Bogan trifecta at the 1-minute mark of the second half resulted in a six-point lead for the Skyhawks but Eastern Illinois closed regulation on an 8-2 run over the final 53 seconds. The Panthers then outscored UT Martin by a 10-5 margin in overtime.

The Skyhawks (5-7, 0-1 OVC) generated a near-historic effort from beyond three-point range, as their 15 treys were just one shy of the school's all-time record. However, UT Martin ran out of gas in the overtime period, sinking just one of its seven 3-point tries in the extra five minutes.

Preston Parks came off the bench to score 21 points in 23 minutes of play for the Skyhawks, sinking five treys. Bogan added 15 points and seven rebounds while Fatodd Lewis came away with 14 points and a season-high nine rebounds. Kevin Little (12 points, team-high five assists) and Quintin Dove (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers for UT Martin.

Eastern Illinois (8-6, 1-0 OVC) was led by a game-high 27 points out of Josiah Wallace as the Panthers shot just 22.2 percent in overtime (2-of-9) but hung on for the comeback win. Shareef Smith (16 points), Rade Kukobat (14) and Mack Smith (12) also tallied double-digit scoring performances for Eastern Illinois.

"We didn't execute down the stretch," Skyhawk head coach Anthony Stewart said. "You have to execute to deserve to win and we didn't do that. I thought we fought and we didn't quit but again – execution was key. We let this one slip away."

The Panthers led by a 10-3 margin just three minutes into the game but a jumper by Lewis at the 7:14 mark gave UT Martin its first lead at 26-25. Moments later, the Skyhawks went on a 10-2 run to claim a 36-29 advantage after a Parks three-pointer with 3:30 left to play before the break. Eastern Illinois followed with a 9-1 run to take a 38-37 lead into the locker room. Wallace and Parks led their teams with 18 and 12 points, respectively, in the opening half.

UT Martin saw its biggest deficit of the contest (49-41) with 15:28 to go in regulation but the Skyhawks kept whittling away. Derek Hawthorne, Jr. swished a pair of three-pointers in a span of 1:45 before a Bogan three-ball resulted in a 57-56 UT Martin advantage at the 10:34 mark. The Skyhawks' nine-point lead soon followed as UT Martin maintained an 82-78 lead with 29 ticks left. The Panthers then knocked down a pair of free throws and took advantage of a Skyhawk turnover for a game-tying layup with six seconds to go in the second half.

Both sides started sluggish in overtime, going scoreless for nearly the first two minutes. Eastern Illinois' first two makes in the extra period were from three-point land before Lewis splashed a trey with 11 seconds left to make it a one-possession game (90-87). However, the Panthers went 2-for-2 from the free throw line to ice the game.

The OVC schedule continues for UT Martin this Saturday, Jan. 5 when it travels to Southeast Missouri. Tipoff from the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. is set for 4:30 p.m.