Skyhawks Rout Jacksonville State in Home Opener
| Dec 8, 2010 - JST at UTM |
| TEAM | 1ST | 2ND | SCORE |
| Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks (3-1) | 39 | 61 | 100 |
| Jacksonville State Gamecocks (3-4) | 43 | 38 | 81 |
Top Performers
R. Clayton 27 pts., R. Spencer 10 pts. 10 rebs.
B. Miller 10 pts. 12 asts., J. Cornelius 27 pts.
It was a tale of two halves, but in the end the Skyhawks easily handled the Gamecocks in front of their home crowd.
Jacksonville State slowed down the pace, and prevented the pressure and double teams from getting to them in the first half. They took 20 seconds off the shot clock each possession in an attempt to slow down the Skyhawks. For 18 minutes it worked, as the Gamecocks held a 43-32 lead with 2 minutes left. However, the Skyhawks went off in the last 2 minutes going on a 7-0 run, capped off by a 35 footer at the buzzer by Reuben Clayton.
UT-Martin took that momentum into the second half, creating turnovers left and right, and catching fire from beyond the arc. Clayton was unstoppable with 17 points, and the Skyhawk defense did its best job of the season so far holding the Gamecocks to 38 points in the second half.
Jordan Cornelius had a solid game for Jacksonville State scoring 27 points, and point guard B.J. Miller dished out 12 assists along with his 10 points. However, the big storyline is how Reuben Clayton is coming to life after a rough start, and becoming the player Coach Wall thought he could be.
UT-Martin will play one more conference game at Morehead State before finishing off their non-conference schedule with tough road trips to UNLV, and Vanderbilt.