BURN THE HORSE
Tennessee-Martin opened exhibition play with a 109-79
victory over Illinois College on Friday afternoon at Elam Center in Martin,
Tenn.
The Skyhawks, who open the regular season next Friday
against UALR, blew open a tight game late in the first half and never looked
back.
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UT-Martin
Terence Smith |
Bobby Jones led all scorers with 27 points. Little Rock’s
Myles Taylor added 19 points and 10 rebounds. Mike Liabo (16), Justin Childs
(14) and B.J. McLaughlin (12) also scored in double figures.
Tennessee-Martin made 42 of 84 field goals (50 percent) and
16 of 24 three-pointers (67 percent). They also outrebounded Illinois College
49-29.
"We came out and made a bunch of shots," UTM Coach Jason James said. "It really helps our offense when we have guys who can stretch a defense like that. We have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the hole in a lot of different ways and that really showed today."
"We came out and made a bunch of shots," UTM Coach Jason James said. "It really helps our offense when we have guys who can stretch a defense like that. We have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the hole in a lot of different ways and that really showed today."
The bad news for the Skyhawks that an Illinois College team
with a tremendous height disparity was able to shoot 43 percent from the field
and 40 percent from the three-point line. Even more puzzling was the fact that
Illinois College went to the free throw line 35 times (25 of 35). That’s 22
more times than Martin (9 of 13) went.
So what do we make of this? Not sure. The game was tied
30-30 early on before Martin went on a 31-13 run to finish the half. The lead ballooned
to 40 points in the second half.
Illinois College is non-scholarship NCAA Division III and went
6-17 last year and was picked to finish fifth in the Midwest Conference.
