Skyhawks Dealt A Buzzer-Beating Setback At Little Rock

Thursday, February 19

Little Rock, Ark.

7 p.m.

UT Martin

20-9,12-6OVC

Little Rock

11-17,8-9OVC

UT Martin

Little Rock

Skyhawks Dealt A Buzzer-Beating Setback At Little Rock

2/19/2026 11:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Despite holding a lead for nearly 27 minutes of clock time this evening, the University of Tennessee at Martin men's basketball team fell victim to a late Little Rock run in a 67-65 setback at the Jack Stephens Center.

The Skyhawks led by six points with 2:52 remaining before the host Trojans ended the game with eight unanswered points, including a floater in the lane that dropped in as time expired. It marked the second go-ahead field goal by a UT Martin opponent in the final five seconds in the last four games and was the first true buzzer-beater against the Skyhawks since Southeast Missouri's Antonius Cleveland banked in a shot from halfcourt on Feb. 22, 2014.

Andrija Bukumirović was the star for UT Martin tonight as the junior from Sjenica, Serbia collected a game-high 22 points with a team-best eight rebounds. AJ Hopkins added 11 points off the bench while the freshman quartet of Filip Petkovski (eight points), Damien King (seven points, six rebounds, career-best four assists with team-high two steals), Matas Deniusas (six points, team-highs of eight rebounds and four assists) and Vladimir Khryapa (career-best eight rebounds) were additional all-around contributors.

The Skyhawks (20-9, 12-6 Ohio Valley Conference) hauled in 25 offensive rebounds tonight – their most against a NCAA Division I opponent since at least 2002.

Little Rock (11-17, 8-9 OVC) was led by Cameron Wallace's 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Kachi Nzeh tallied 18 points and Johnathan Lawson chipped in 15 points before Tuongthach Gatkek made the game-winning shot after a steal and 75-foot dash to the rim.

"We didn't execute down the stretch and that's my fault," UT Martin head coach Jeremy Shulman said. "We battled but we didn't make shots and didn't guard very well, which put ourselves in that type of situation. I love this team but at the end of the day, we're young and we have to grow up. We'll bounce back – this is two years in a row now where we've had some heartbreaking losses but we're due for some good luck in close games."

The Trojans led 10-3 early before a Bukumirović three-pointer at the 10:58 mark of the first half gave the Skyhawks their first lead of the night at 13-12. UT Martin led for the last 5:54 of the opening half thanks to a relentless effort on the boards as the Skyhawks corralled 17 offensive rebounds in the first 13:57 of the contest.

Bukumirović's 13 points led all scorers in the first half as UT Martin took a 32-28 advantage into the locker room. Wallace's 10 points paced Little Rock in the first 20 minutes.

The Skyhawks did not trail for the entirety of the second half until the final second ran off the clock. After the Trojans pulled within one point with 17 minutes remaining, back-to-back three-pointers from Hopkins pushed UT Martin's lead back out to 42-33 at the 14:40 mark.

A Pedro Santos tip-in with 7:41 to go kept the Skyhawk advantage at nine points at 55-46. A pair of Deniusas free throws at the 2:52 mark gave UT Martin a 65-59 lead but Little Rock was able to convert a three-pointer and three free throws down the stretch before the game-winning basket.

The Skyhawks will experience a rare Saturday off before the final two games of the regular season take place at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center. UT Martin will host in-state OVC rivals Tennessee Tech (7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 26) and Tennessee State (1 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 28) with the latter matchup being nationally televised on ESPNU.