EDWARDSVILLE Ill.- SIUE men's basketball scored 59 second-half points, but it wasn't enough as the Cougars lost for just the second time this year at home, falling to UT Martin 90-79 Saturday at First Community Arena.
SIUE fell to 13-10 overall and 6-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play. UT Martin improved to 14-9 and 7-3 in OVC play and ran its win streak to four games.
"We didn't do some of the simple things we usually do," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "We missed an opportunity in a very good environment."
SIUE was anchored by Shamar Wright who collected his fifth 20-point game of the year, scoring 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and was 5 of 8 from three-point territory.
Lamar Wright added 18 points and grabbed 7 rebounds while dishing out 2 assists.
UT Martin jumped out to a seven-point lead early in the first half and grew its lead to 15 on a Jordan Sears three-pointer with 7:44 left in the first half. SIUE never got closer in the first half as the Skyhawks took a 26-point lead into the locker room. SIUE was held to a season-low 20 first half points.
"The second half we pushed it, we opened it up offensively, nothing really crazy, " Barone said. "We made more of our open shots and passed the ball a little bit more."
UT Martin saw its lead grow to a game high 31 (59-28) 5:00 minutes into the second half but the Cougars cut the Skyhawk lead to 16 with a pair of free-throws by Shamar Wright.
A three-pointer by Demarco Minor with :59 seconds left trimmed the lead to nine points, but the Cougars' rally would end there. A dunk by Jacob Crews would salt the game away for UT Martin.
"There's a lot to learn from this game," Lamar Wright said. Coming out with a bunch of energy and locking in offensively and defensively.
Demarco Minor finished with 19 points, all in the second half, and collected 5 rebounds with 8 assists. Ray'Sean Taylor contributed 8 points to go along with 6 assists.
UT Martin was led by the OVC leading scorer, Jordan Sears, who tied a career high with 34 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 from behind the three-point arc.
"I thought they (UT Martin) were comfortable in what they were doing, and they made their shots," Barone said about the Skyhawks offense.
The Skyhawks shot 55 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range while out rebounding the Cougars 37 to 31.
SIUE shot 41 percent from the field in the game and 52 percent in the second half.
SIUE collected 18 assists, the Cougars' most in a game against a Division I opponent.
SIUE will hit the road on Thursday to visit Morehead State in a rematch from earlier this season. The game is scheduled to tip at 8:00 CT and will air on ESPNU.
"We're not out of it by any means, we have six out of eight on the road and we wouldn't expect anything else," Barone said. "We have to focus on Morehead State."
