UT Martin too tough in the paint for WIU

UT Martin emphasized interior play, downing Western Illinois 67-60 in men’s Ohio V alley Conference action Thursday afternoon at the Elam Center.

The Skyhawks shot 50 of their 57 field goal attempts from two-point range with 48 of those tries coming from inside the paint.

The seven 3-point attempts were the fewest for UT Martin since hoisting just six trifectas against Murray State on Dec. 21, 2010 — a span of 474 games. As a result, the Skyhawks outscored the Leathernecks 40-20 in the paint.

Filip Radakovic set a new career-high in scoring for the third time in the last seven contests, pumping in 18 points to go along with six rebounds and a career-best three steals for UT Martin (10-4, 2-1 Ohio Valley Conference).

Matas Deniusas added 12 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks, while Pedro Santos (10 points) cracked double figures in the scoring column for the second time in 2025-26.

Andrija Bukumirovic barely missed a double-double with nine points, nine rebounds and two blocks for the Skyhawks, who limited Western Illinois to 32.3 percent (21-of-65) shooting from the floor.

The Leathernecks (4-10, 0-3 OVC) were led by the duo of Lucas Lorenzen (23 points) and Isaiah Griffin (21 points).

Western Illinois led by 10 points early and held a 31-29 halftime lead but shot just 29.4 percent (10-for-34) in the final 20 minutes.

“If you want to have a chance to win this conference, you have to win some games like this,” UT Martin head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “Our mentality wasn’t what it needed to be and we weren’t ready to play, but give credit to Western Illinois. They had a good game plan. We made some adjustments, but it was good to see our guys show resiliency in the second half.”

The Leathernecks led 13-3 just four minutes into the game before five straight points out of Radakovic got the Skyhawks going.

UT Martin kept chipping away until an old-fashioned three-point play by Radakovic evened the score at 26-all with just under five minutes to go before the halftime break.

A pair of Bukumirovic free throws soon thereafter gave the Skyhawks their first lead of the day at 28-26, but Western Illinois scored the next five points of the contest to go ahead at the intermission.

Radakovic had eight first-half points, while Griffin had 17 points to lead all scorers at the half.

Deniusas recorded the first five points of the second half to snatch the lead back in favor of UT Martin. The Leathernecks reclaimed the lead via a 7-0 run that concluded with 13 minutes remaining.

A triple from Luca Colceag in the left corner nudged the Skyhawks ahead 48-47 with 10:58 to go, but Western Illinois again answered, this time with eight of the next 11 points.

The lead changed hands five times in a span of 3:06 in crunch time, UT Martin wrapping up the game on an 8-0 run and taking the lead for good on a Deniusas jumper in the lane with 1:50 to go.

Afan Trnka knocked down four clutch free throws before two more Radakovic makes from the charity stripe with 10 seconds remaining capped off the scoring.

The Skyhawks return home on Saturday with another OVC matchup against Eastern Illinois.

Tip-off time from the Elam Center is set for 3:30 p.m., following the conclusion of the women’s game as part of a doubleheader.