St. Louis - Tennessee-Martin raced to a 17-point first half advantage and held off Saint Louis 63-58 tonight at Savvis Center in the season opener for both clubs. The Billikens dropped their second-straight home opener.
"Give UT-Martin for being quicker than we were and for shooting the ball better than we did," Billiken first-year head coach Brad Soderberg said. "They came in here and played with toughness and confidence. They jumped on us so hard and so quick that we were backpedaling the rest of the way."
Each team came out scoring at will early. But the Skyhawks hit their first four triples and with 13:48 to play in the half, the game was tied at 14. UTM went on a 21-4 run to take a commanding 35-18 lead on forward Joey Walker's traditional three-point play with 5:10 left.
"They locked on to (Drew) Diener and (Marque) Perry, and made it miserable for them," Soderberg said. "They forced someone else to make some baskets, and Chris Sloan, to his credit, made some plays."
The Bills rallied and cut the lead to nine on Marque Perry's lay-up with 48 seconds remaining, but the Skyhawks converted their last possession of the half with Walker's lay-up sending UTM to the locker room up 39-28. UTM shot 57.1 percent and 45.5 percent from three in the first half.
The clubs traded baskets for the first 10 minutes of the second half, and UTM still enjoyed a 56-46 edge with 9:41 remaining. The Billikens tenaciously clawed their way back into it by holding the Skyhawks to just seven points the rest of the way.
Junior forward Chris Sloan sliced the margin to 58-54 with 2:54 left, but UTM guard Earl Bullock answered with a huge trey. Another Sloan lay-in with 17 seconds left cut the deficit to 61-58, but the Bills missed a pair of three-point attempts to tie in the waning moments. Bullock drained two free throws with six seconds left to secure the game.
"The positive aspect is our kids didn't quit, and our defense got remarkably better in the second half," Soderberg said. "We took some undisciplined shots in those last 10 minutes, and that really hurt us."
Walker led the Skyhawks with 18 points, while Bullock tossed in 16. Walker also had a game-high nine rebounds as UTM controlled the glass 35-28. The Skyhawks shot 51 percent from the field.
Sloan posted a career-high 17 points, and Perry finished with 14, but was 5-of-20 from the field including 0-of-7 from three. The Bills shot 37.5 percent from the floor and only 16.7 percent (4-24) from three.
The Billikens conclude their two-game season-opening homestand by entertaining Southwest Missouri State on Tue., Nov. 26, at 7:10 p.m.
