Skyhawks post record-setting win over Western Illinois

MACOMB, Ill. — The largest margin of victory in UT Martin’s Ohio Valley Conference history now belongs to the 2025-26 Skyhawks.
The Skyhawks set the new mark at 40 points by throttling Western Illinois 84-44 Saturday afternoon.
The 40-point triumph was nine points better than the Skyhawks’ previous record, which was set just last season in a 77-46 win at Southern Indiana on Dec. 21, 2024.
UT Martin never trailed and led by as many as 44 points in one of its most dominant performances of the season.
Filip Petkovski paced the Skyhawks in scoring for the first time in his blossoming career as the freshman unleashed game- and career-highs of 17 points and eight rebounds.
He connected on seven of his 11 field goal tries while sinking three treys in 28 minutes of playing time.
Andrija Bukumirovic tallied 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting while Matas Deniusas (11 points, seven rebounds, career-highs of five assists and three steals) and Pedro Santos (10 points, six rebounds, three assists, four steals) delivered impressive all-around performances for UTM.
The Skyhawks, 17-5 overall with a 9-2 mark in OVC play, held a 41-20 edge in rebounding, outscored the Leathernecks 40-14 in the paint and held Western Illinois to 26.5 percent (13-of-49) shooting.
The Leathernecks (4-19, 0-12 OVC) were led by Lucas Lorenzen’s eight points as UT Martin turned 14 Western Illinois turnovers into 26 points while manning a 19-7 advantage in fast break points.
“I’m just really proud of our guys,” Skyhawk head coach Jeremy Shulman said. “For our guys to come out and execute our game plan like that, we were smart and dialed-in for the whole game but especially offensively in the second half. We’re going to enjoy this one for a little bit before refocusing for three big-time home games next week.”
UT Martin scored eight of the first 10 points of the game and never looked back.
The Leathernecks got within one point at the 15:20 mark of the first half, but the Skyhawks responded with 15 unanswered points that included six points from Petkovski, two free throws by Filip Radakovic, back-to-back dunks by Deniusas and a 3-pointer from Santos.
Western Illinois would not get any closer than 11 points the rest of the way as UT Martin took a 38-20 lead into the halftime break.
Petkovski and Deniusas each had a game-high eight points in the first 20 minutes as the Leathernecks had the lowest first-half scoring output of any Skyhawk NCAA Division I opponent this season.
Deniusas swished a 3-pointer on UT Martin’s opening possession of the second half as the Skyhawks stayed hot.
UTM used a 25-3 run over a stretch of 9:18 to put the game out of reach, limiting Western Illinois to 0-for-12 shooting with three turnovers in that span.
Santos buried a mid-range jumper with 1:49 to go to stretch the Skyhawk advantage out to 84-40, their biggest lead of the day.
UT Martin has a busy upcoming week with three games in the span of five days at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
That stretch begins with a Tuesday outing against Little Rock that was rescheduled from a Jan. 24 postponement. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m., following the women’s game.
WOMEN
Western Ill. 80, UTM 54
UT Martin saw its four-game win streak come to an end Saturday with an 80-54 loss at Western Hall in Macomb.
The Skyhawks were first on the board in the contest, but Western Illinois took the lead less than a minute later and held it for the remaining 38 minutes and 47 seconds of the game.
The Leathernecks used a balanced, efficient attack to take down the Skyhawks with the six players who played the majority of the game all scoring in double digits.
Western Illinois was also highly accurate Saturday, going 50.7 percent from the floor, 38.1 percent from 3-point range and 85.7 percent at the free throw line.
Meanwhile, the Skyhawks shot just 37.3-percent from the floor and had a season-low three assists, compared to 14 by the Leathernecks.
Kenley McCarn continued her streak of 20 consecutive games this season, scoring in double figures with a team-high 12 and was followed by Grace Billington and Sidni Middleton, who each had 11.
Yar Tong led the Skyhawks on the glass with five rebounds, while McCarn was next in line with four.
On Tuesday, the Skyhawks return home to continue their stretch of five games in 10 days when they welcome Little Rock to the Kathleen & Tom Elam Center in a matchup originally scheduled for Jan. 24 but postponed due to inclement weather.
Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.