NCAA News Wire
Tennessee-Martin 81, Illinois-Chicago 78
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Guard Deville Smith scored a game-high 26 points — including the first three points in overtime — as Tennessee-Martin claimed a 81-78 extra session nonconference victory over Illinois-Chicago on Monday at the Pavilion.
Smith led a balanced attack with four players in double figures for the Skyhawks (6-2) while the Flames dropped to 3-8 after the first-ever meeting between the teams.
Guard Alex Anderson scored 16 points, forward Twymond Howard had 14 points and 10 rebounds and guard Marshun Newell added 12 for the winners.
Guard Paris Burns scored a team-high 24 points for Illinois-Chicago, guard Marc Brown had 23 and guard Jay Harris added 15.
The Skyhawks jumped to an early lead and opened a 10-point advantage late before Burns’ late jumper cut the Tennessee-Martin halftime lead to 33-25.
The Skyhawks continued to maintain a double-digit leads in the second half and forward Javier Martinez’s free throw at the 12:42 mark gave them a 50-37 lead, Martin’s largest to that point.
But the Skyhawks went cold a few minutes later and the Flames rallied to within a point at 59-58 with 3:20 to play and eventually forced overtime as Harris hit two free throws with 29 seconds left to force a 65-65 deadlock.
Harris, a fifth-year graduate student, was named Horizon League player of the week on Monday after scoring a career-high 32 points in Illinois-Chicago’s 71-60 win last Thursday over Central Florida.
Both teams resume play on Wednesday with the Flames at SMU while the Skyhawks visit Illinois State.
