Box Score
MARTIN, Tenn. – Terence Smith scored 21 points to lead the University of Tennessee at Martin of the Ohio Valley Conference to an 89-79 non-conference men's basketball victory against Longwood University in the 2013 Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters on Saturday afternoon in Martin, Tennessee. Junior captain
Tristan Carey/Colonial Beach led the Lancers (6-23) with a game-high 23 points, giving him 94 points in his last three games (31.3). The Skyhawks (8-19) enjoyed a significant advantage at the free throw line, outscoring their visitors 27-11 in the contest, including 19-4 in the second half to rally from a 43-42 halftime deficit. Longwood will play on the road at Big South Conference North Division opponent Campbell University on Wednesday night, February 27 at 7 p.m. in Buies Creek, North Carolina.
Longwood took an early 14-8 lead at 16:02 as Carey began where he had left off from his previous 40-point game (8 3FGs) against Liberty on Feb. 19, making three quick three-point field goals. UT Martin battled back to tie it at 16-16 with 13:51 left in the half after back-to-back baskets from BJ McLaughlin. The Lancers led 21-18 at 11:22 following a jumper by Carey, who scored 12 first-half points, but the Skyhawks scored the next four points to take their first lead of the game at 22-21 with 10:20 on the clock. LU answered with six-straight points to lead 27-22 at 9:10, but UTM responded with an 11-2 run behind five quick points from Smith to lead 33-29 at 5:07. The two teams played back and forth to close the period, and the Lancers led 43-42 at the break following a buzzer-beating jumper from junior captain
David Robinson/Chesterfield from a designed play called with only two-seconds left before halftime. Freshman
Karl Ziegler/Annandale threw a three-quarter court inbound pass to classmate
Michael Kessens/Nyon, Switzerland who pushed the ball to Robinson on the right wing for the jumper with a foot on the three-point line at the horn.
Longwood extended the margin at the start of the second half, leading 52-48 at 15:48 on a three-pointer by Robinson that followed two quick baskets inside from Kessens and a jumper by Carey. UT Martin answered the challenge again, scoring nine-straight points to lead 57-52 with 12:29 remaining. Mike Liabo got it started with three free throws when fouled on a deep attempt, and Myles Taylor finished it with a jumper. The Lancers fought back with five-straight points, including an old-fashioned three-point play from Carey and a dunk by Kessens on a lob pass from freshman
Lucas Woodhouse/Greenlawn, New York to tie it at 57-57 with 10:34 left. The Skyhawks, however, used an 8-2 run to lead 65-59 at 8:08 with Taylor scoring five quick points. A jumper from Ziegler made it 65-63 with 6:53 on the clock, but that was as close as it would get down the stretch. UTM would make 15-17 free throws over the final 4:36, as LU could get no closer than four points on three occasions, the last at 81-77 after a layup by Ziegler at 0:27.
“That was a good game between two evenly matched teams,” said 10th-year head coach Mike Gillian. “We played pretty well offensively, had the lead at halftime, but were just not able to string together enough defensive stops in the second half to be able to come out on top. It's time to get back home and start getting ready for the final week of the regular season and the Big South tournament. There is a lot of good basketball left for us to play this season.”
Carey led Longwood with his game-high 23 points, including four three-pointers, adding three assists. He has scored 94 points in his last three games, an average of 31.3 per game, while making 31-57 field goals (54%), including 16-33 three-pointers (48%) and 16-21 free throws (76%). Ziegler added career highs of 14 points and seven rebounds before fouling out for the Lancers. Robinson had 13 points before fouling out, and Kessens finished with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for his 10th double-double. Woodhouse had 10 points and tied his career-high with a game-high 11 assists for this third double-double. Redshirt-sophomore
Jeylani Dublin|Brooklyn, New York contributed six points and five rebounds before fouling out. LU shot 51% (31-61) from the field, including 43% (6-14) on three-pointers and 73% (11-15) at the free throw line. The Lancers were whistled for 16 of their 23 fouls in the second half that resulted in the decided difference at the charity stripe for the hosts.
Smith led UT Martin with his 21 points, including 9-12 free throws. Taylor added 18 points, including 16 in the second half for the Skyhawks. Liabo had 15 points, including 7-8 free throws, adding eight rebounds and nine assists. McLaughlin finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. UTM shot 44% (27-62) from the field, including 47% (8-17) on three-pointers and 82% (27-33) at the line to earn the home court victory. The hosts were whistled for eight of their 15 fouls in the first half.
Longwood and UT Martin were meeting for the first time in the sport. The Skyhawks will have to return the contest and play in Farmville next season, though it will not be part of the BracketBusters event that will not continue after this season.
The game was attended by Cal Luther, who coached at Longwood for nine years (1981-90, 136-105) before coaching at UT Martin for nine years (1990-99, 72-163), where he led the Skyhawks through their NCAA Division I Reclassification. Coach Luther serves as a radio analyst for UTM. He was a halftime guest on the Lancers' broadcast, and visited with the Longwood team following the contest.
