WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Youngstown State 90,
UT Martin 72
YOUNGSTOWN STATE 90, UT MARTIN 72
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Graduate guard Parker Stewart collected the 1,000th point of his collegiate career this evening at Youngstown State but the University of Tennessee at Martin fell 90-72 to the host Penguins at the Beeghly Center.
Stewart canned a pair of free throws at the 5:05 mark of the second half, reaching the milestone in the 93rd game of his collegiate career. The Union City, Tenn. native has now scored 491 points in parts of two seasons donning a Skyhawk uniform while adding 291 points at Pitt (2017-18) and 211 points at Indiana (2021-22).
KJ Simon topped UT Martin (0-2) in scoring with 19 points while also adding five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. Jordan Sears contributed 13 points and a team-high four assists while Stewart ended his night with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Desmond Williams and KK Curry added eight points apiece while Chris Nix hauled in a team-best six rebounds for the Skyhawks, who outscored Youngstown State by a 17-6 margin in fast break points and outshot the host squad (46.7 percent to 45.1 percent).
Coming off a 19-win season and a postseason berth in 2021-22, the Penguins improved to 2-0 thanks to a balanced scoring attack. Dwayne Cohill led the way with 19 points while the trio of Malek Green, Garrett Covington and Brandon Rush each scored 12 points apiece. Adrian Nelson had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds while John Lovelace, Jr. gave Youngstown State its sixth double-digit scorer with 10 points.
The Skyhawks sank the first bucket of the game – a three-pointer from Williams only 20 seconds into the contest. The Penguins scored the next seven points of the game but Simon answered with a driving layup and a three-pointer in the span of 27 seconds to tilt the score back in favor of UT Martin at 8-7.
Youngstown State went on a 10-0 run but the Skyhawks responded with seven unanswered points of their own as a Sears fast break layup got UT Martin back within one possession (17-14) with 12 minutes remaining in the opening half.
Another Williams trey and back-to-back layups from Nix and Curry gave the Skyhawks a 27-26 edge at the 6:33 mark. The Penguins were able to end the half on an 11-2 run to claim a 37-29 advantage at the intermission.
Simon had nine points in the first half while Cohill's 11 points ranked as a team-high for Youngstown State.
UT Martin got on the scoreboard in the second half with a Simon second-chance layup but the Penguins unreeled seven unanswered points. Stewart heated up for five straight points in a 32-second stretch before a Josh Endicott putback made the score 50-38 at the under-16 media timeout.
Three points from Sears and a pair of Curry free throws helped the Skyhawks keep their deficit at 12 but Youngstown State accounted for 12 of the next 15 points.
Stewart's historic feat soon followed but UT Martin would not get any closer than 15 points the rest of the way.