The Salukis men’s basketball squad welcomed the Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks for the penultimate non-conference contest inside the Banterra Center on Wednesday, Dec. 10. Even without senior guard Isaiah Stafford, the Salukis kept a handle on the Skyhawks the whole way in an 83-54 victory.

The Salukis were able to get a jump on UT-Martin, with guard Drew Steffe’s 3-pointer opening the scoring 34 seconds in. After that though the Skyhawks went on the attack, going on a 10-2 run. That left the visiting side up 12-7 four and a half minutes in.

After the initial offensive onslaught, both teams’ defense showed out over the next segment. SIU held UT-Martin scoreless for over four minutes, but they were only able to muster four points of their own, leaving the score 12-11 with 11:15 left until the half.

From there, the Saluki offense exploded in a way that hadn’t been seen since the first week of November, scoring seven points in two minutes. After a fast break dunk from forward Max Pikaar put a jolt in the home crowd, UT-Martin head coach Jeremy Shulman was forced to take a timeout with the score 20-15 and 9:07 left on the clock for the first half. 

SIU continued to keep the Skyhawks at arm’s length throughout the latter portion of the first half. A 3-pointer from UT-Martin guard Afan Trnka cut the lead to 26-23 with 2:58 left until halftime.

Guard Jalen Haynes ended the half with an exclamation point, slamming home a fast break dunk as time expired to bring the halftime lead to 34-27. 

“Everybody gets excited, the crowd gets into it, that’s huge,” Haynes said.

“Shoutout to Jalen. That was ridiculous,” guard Davion Sykes added

It was a relatively even spread for the Salukis as far as individual points in the first half, as Sykes led the team in points with only six.

Only three minutes into the second half, Steffe suffered an ankle injury that required him to be helped off the court by the training staff, making him the second Saluki guard to make the injury report on the night. He did return to the contest shortly after the injury. Even with Steffe absent, the Salukis were able to maintain a 39-34 lead heading into the first media timeout. 

SIU proceeded to then open up the lead to double digits on the back of an 11-1 run. A fast break jumper from guard Damien Mayo Jr. brought the score to 49-35 and forced a Skyhawks timeout with 13:10 left in the contest. Moments later, an and-1 from Sykes brought the Saluki lead to 20 with 12 minutes to go.

UT-Martin put up somewhat of a fight the rest of the way, getting the deficit down to as little as 15. By the time the final media timeout came around with 3:36 to go though, the Salukis had stretched the lead all the way to 70-46.

A powerful dunk from freshman forward Jaheem Webber made the score 78-51 with 1:30 to go. It also meant that all 11 players that dressed for the Salukis not only saw action, but also scored at least two points.

A minute and a half later, the final score flashed 83-54 on the Banterra Center scoreboard, wrapping up a dominant victory.

Sykes led the Salukis with 17 points. He was joined in double figures by guard Quel’Ron House (12) and Haynes (12).

The Salukis deep bench came up big yet again, with 46 of the team’s 83 points coming from the bench.

“We’re really deep. I’m bringing three seniors off the bench, which helps,” Saluki head coach Scott Nagy said.

The now 6-4 Salukis have one more non-conference tilt on the schedule, travelling to Richmond, Virginia to take on the Richmond Spiders on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 5 p.m.

Sports reporter Eli Hoover can be found at [email protected] or on Instagram @hoovermakesart 

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