Skyhawks Notch Fifth Straight Win In Eastern Illinois Series

Thursday, January 29

Charleston, Ill.

7:30 p.m.

UT Martin

16-5,8-2OVC

Eastern Illinois

9-13,5-6OVC

UT Martin

Eastern Ill.

Skyhawks Notch Fifth Straight Win In Eastern Illinois Series

1/29/2026 11:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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CHARLESTON, Ill. – The University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team held a lead for over 37 minutes of clock time this evening as the Skyhawks soared to a 76-68 road victory against Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois.

After the game was knotted at 37-all at the halftime break, the UT Martin defense clamped down to hold the host Panthers to 28.1 percent (9-of-32) shooting with a 1-for-8 success rate from three-point range in the second half. That allowed the Skyhawks to build a 15-point advantage with 7:20 to go on the way to the victory, improving their record to 16-5 with an OVC-best 8-2 record in the league standings.

Andrija Bukumirović accounted for a game-high 21 points and team-best nine rebounds tonight while freshman Damien King was nearly perfect from the floor (7-of-8) on the way to a career-best 17 points in 24 minutes. Afan Trnka chipped in 10 points with Filip Radaković (nine points) and Matas Deniusas (eight points) following closely behind. Filip Petkovski distributed a game-high five assists for UT Martin, who shot 53.1 percent (26-for-49) and splashed 11 triples.

Eastern Illinois (9-13, 5-6 OVC) was guided by Terry McMorris' 15 points while Meechie White (14 points) also scored in double figures. The Panthers were held to 28.1 percent (9-of-32) for the contest and were outrebounded by a 42-30 margin.

"What a gutty win in a tough road atmosphere," Skyhawk head coach Jeremy Shulman said. "We made it a little too close at the end – we have to clean some things up, we need to be better taking care of the ball and not fouling so much to put our opponent at the free throw line. But I thought we got back to our passing roots and shot the ball efficiently because of those good looks."

UT Martin scored the first nine points of the contest, capped off with three-pointers from King and Deniusas. After Eastern Illinois pulled within four points at the 15:15 mark, another King trey nudged the Skyhawk advantage out to double digits (25-14) midway through the half.

The Panthers scored eight unanswered in the waning stages of the opening half and briefly took a 35-34 lead before Bukumirović buried a three-pointer to close UT Martin's first-half scoring. King's game-high 13 points at the break came on 5-of-5 shooting while Kooper Jacobi's nine points led Eastern Illinois.

Bukumirović canned a trifecta to ignite the Skyhawk scoring in the second half and UT Martin never trailed from that point forward. The Panthers trimmed their deficit to five points (49-44) with 12:13 left to play but longballs from Trnka and Bukumirović extended the Skyhawk advantage back out to double digits with a little over 11 minutes to go.

A pair of Bukumirović free throws at the 7:20 mark gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the night at 63-48. The Skyhawks' 15-point lead remained intact with 4:32 remaining and despite a late 7-0 Eastern Illinois run, UT Martin knocked down enough free throws in the final 33 seconds to seal the victory.

The Skyhawks will make the 180-mile trek across the state to take on Western Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 31. Tipoff from Western Hall in Macomb is set for 3:30 p.m.