The Skyhawks were able to overcome a few late snafu’s to grab a 85-75 victory over OVC foe Eastern Kentucky last night at Skyhawk Arena. UTM is now 4-2 in the OVC and second behind of Morehead.

Charles Slaughter of EKU would give the Colonels their only lead of the night when he hit the opening bucket. After that, it was all Skyhawks.

UTM ran up a 24-7 lead with 12:34 to go in the opening half. Spurred by Ben Rushing, the colonels started to mount comeback, but the Skyhawk defense finally held them at bay. At the four minute mark of the first half, the Colonels managed to pull within eight, before two Joey Walker free-throws put the Skyhawks back up by ten. Walker added another bucket and two J.C. Howe free-throws left the Colonels down by eight, 40-32 at the break.

Jeremy Kelly started things off in fine fashion for the Skyhawks in the second half with a layup that put UTM back up by 10. Another Walker layup and two free-throws from Okechi Egbe would give the Skyhawks their biggest lead of the second half, 51-37 with 16:12 remaining in the game.

The Colonels were far from finished on the night though. Led by Michael Haney, Matt Witt, and Shawn Fields; EKU cut the Skyhawks lead to a mere two points, 57-55 with 10:28 to go. Both teams continued to trade baskets with UTM seeming to be unable to break away from the stubborn Colonel team. The key to UTM’s victory would come from the “charity stripe”.

UTM was 18-26 in the second half to put the game away in the final minutes, 85-75. The Skyhawks were led by Walker with 21 points on the night and improved to 4-2 in the OVC and 11-6 overall on the year. UTM will host the OVC’s top team, the Morehead Eagles Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Skyhawk Arena.