LATE OFFENSIVE DROUGHT COSTS UT MARTIN MEN’S HOOPS IN 80-67 SETBACK TO TROY

Saturday, November 20

Boca Raton, Fla.

2 p.m.

UT Martin

1-3

Troy

3-2

UT Martin

Troy

LATE OFFENSIVE DROUGHT COSTS UT MARTIN MEN’S HOOPS IN 80-67 SETBACK TO TROY

11/20/2021 6:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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BOCA RATON, Fla. – The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team was embroiled in another tight decision today at the Paradise Classic but Troy ended the game with nine unanswered points to hand the Skyhawks an 80-67 loss.

The Skyhawks were within a single possession as late as 6:47 to go in the contest and trailed by only four points at the final media timeout. However, the Trojans knocked down their free throws down the stretch to come away with the win.

KJ Simon led UT Martin (1-3) in scoring for the second time in as many days, producing 15 points in addition to a game-high two blocks. KK Curry added 12 points while Koby Jeffries recorded 11 points, a team-best five rebounds and a game-high three steals for the Skyhawks, who shot 50 percent (15-of-30) in the first half but could only convert 29.4 percent (10-for-34) of its field goal chances in the final 20 minutes.

Troy (3-2) was led by Duke Deen's 17 points while Desmond Williams and Efe Odigie followed closely behind with 16 and 15 points, respectively. The Trojans were forced into 19 turnovers but made 14 more free throws than UT Martin while going to the charity stripe nearly twice as many times as the Skyhawks (28 to 15).

UT Martin showed incredible balance early on as five different Skyhawks (Simon, Curry, Josh Endicott, David Kamwanga, Jeffries) combined to score the first six buckets. Jeffries' jumper at the 13:43 mark of the first half provided UT Martin with its first lead of the matchup at 13-12.

The Skyhawks soon went on a 12-2 run over a 1:49 stretch, receiving seven of those points from Simon. By the time that Darius Simmons splashed a three-pointer with 11:15 to play in the first half, UT Martin had extended its lead out to 25-17.

Troy responded with an 8-0 run but a barrage of trifectas – courtesy of Mikel Henderson, Endicott and Josiah Morris – pushed the Skyhawk advantage back out to 36-32 at the 4:36 mark.

Three more ties followed in the first half before the Trojans managed to take a 42-39 lead at the break. Simon's 11 points (in just nine minutes) led all scorers while Williams and Deen each generated eight points for Troy.

Jeffries began the second half with the hot hand as the redshirt freshman out of Olive Branch, Miss. tossed in seven of UT Martin's first nine points. His layup with 15:21 remaining resulted in a 48-46 Skyhawk lead.

The Trojans were responsible for six of the next eight points but UT Martin was unfazed. Henderson buried a big trey before a pair of Simon free throws trimmed the Skyhawk deficit to 62-59 with 6:47 to go.

Troy then used a 7-0 run to go on top by double digits but again, UT Martin kept grinding. Curry scored the first and last buckets of an 8-2 run to pull the Skyhawks within four (71-67) with just under four minutes remaining.

However, that was as close as UT Martin would get the rest of the way as the Trojans converted five free throws and a pair of layups in the game's waning stages.

The Skyhawks will play their third game in three days tomorrow, rounding out their participating in the Paradise Classic with a 1 p.m. CST matchup against North Dakota.