SEMO Men’s basketball dominate UT Martin, move to second in the OVC

The SEMO men’s basketball team defeated the UT Martin Skyhawks by a score of 90-79 on Thursday, Jan. 30.

SEMO entered the game sitting with an 11-10 overall record, and a 6-4 conference record, looking to improve to second place in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Earlier in the season when the schools played each other, the game was close and competitive, only being separated by three points, ending with a score of 66-63 in favor of the Skyhawks.

The game opened in kind, as the Redhawks battled back and forth with the Skyhawks early on in the first half. As the half went on however, the Redhawks began to find their groove, finding themselves with as much as a 12 point lead.

The Skyhawks however were undeterred, and continued to battle back, closing the gap to 31-35 with three minutes remaining in the half.

The Redhawks regained their dominance for the remainder of the half, outsourcing the Skyhawks 10 points to two for the last three minutes.

Junior guard Rob Martin closed the half with a buzzer-beating three-point shot, giving the Redhawks a 46-33 point lead at the half.

In the second half the Redhawks continued to maintain their lead, dominating the Skyhawks throughout the half.

Despite this, the Skyhawks continued to press forward, cutting the lead down to eight, however the Redhawks did not let the lead slip past that, and readjusted to close out the game, finishing the game with a final score of 79-90.

Throughout the game the Redhawks’ offense showcased their offensive versatility, as five players finished with over 10 points, the highest of which was junior guard Braxton Stacker, who ended the game with 19 points.

Stacker credited his teammates for helping create numerous opportunities for him and the rest of the team to score, leading to the offensive success.

“they just found me when I was open, I kind of just made a shot. We did a lot of cutting, and our spacing was good. We shared the ball pretty well and it was just my night tonight. This is the best I have shot in a minute. It felt good. My teammates definitely found me an open spot, and you have to give credit to them,” Stacker said.

The Redhawks also demonstrated an efficiency when scoring, shooting with a 63% rate from the field, with the majority of their points coming from inside the paint.

With this win, the Redhawks are now tied for second in the Ohio Valley Conference with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), and Little Rock, and are only 2 wins behind conference leaders Morehead State.

Head Coach Brad Korn said that the adjustments made from the first game the teams played, and the calm mindset of the players allowed them to have success on both the offense and defensive side of the ball.

“Overall just a wonderful pace and patience offensively by our guys, [they had] really good poise to handle a unique defensive style that they throw at you and run and jump, send guys at you multiple times within the possession, which is unique. Defensively, I thought we were on point, did a really nice job on their top two guys, but one guy kind of got loose on us a little bit, but for the most part, had ever held everybody else in check,” Korn said.

Senior guard TJ Biel stated that the previous game with UT Martin helped the team properly prepare to find success against the UT Martin defensive system during their rematch.

“We just kept it simple. We knew exactly what we had to do to be UT Martin. They played a tough, European style. So we had to adjust to that and work all week, and we went out and dealt with that,” Biel said.

The Redhawks next stretch of games include crucial matchups for the OVC, including games against Tennessee State who currently have a four game win streak, and first place Morehead State.

Head Coach Brad Korn stated that the team understands the importance of the matchups ahead and are willing to put in the effort to win each one.

“We've got to take care of home and just keep building what we're trying to build here within our program, and we do that through our energy and effort and our attitude,” Korn said.

The Redhawks next game is on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 3:45 p.m. at the Show Me Center against Tennessee State University.