MARTIN, Tn. -- Zach Ingles calmly sank two free throws with seven seconds left to provide the cushion in Eastern Kentucky's hard-fought 71-67 win over UT Martin Thursday night in the Skyhawks' Elam Center.
With Eastern clinging to a 68-67 lead, Ingles stepped to the line and nailed both ends of a one-on-one with seven ticks left on the clock. Ben Rushing completed scoring for EKU by making one free throw with two seconds remaining after the Skyhawks threw the ball away trying to get it to three-point shooter Earl Bullock.
"This was a great win for us," said EKU head coach Travis Ford. "This was a big game and a good notch in our belt to start the conference.
"UT Martin plays aggressive defense, so to hang in there at the end is a great confidence builder for our guys."
The story of the game for the Colonels was the sterling performance by junior point guard Matt Witt. Witt, who had a game-high and a career-high 27 points, became the second Colonel in a week and the 27th in school history to score 1,000 points when he hit his 21st and 22nd point on a jumper with 2:44 left in the game. He now totals 1,006 in his three-year Colonel career.
Witt hit 10-18 from the field, 5-8 from three-point land, 2-2 from the charity stripe, while picking up five assists and one steal in 36 grueling minutes of play.
"This was just an awesome performance by Matt in several areas. It was a breakout game for him because he hit some big-time baskets under intense pressure with the game on the line," said Ford.
Eastern controlled most of the first half, leading by as many as 12 at 22-10 before settling for a five-point lead (30-25) at the break.
The Colonels upped that margin to 13 at 50-37 with 9:39 to go before the Skyhawks came charging back by playing in-your-face defense for the last nine minutes of the game.
UT Martin tied the game late at 61-61, 63-63 and 65-65 before two Witt free throws with 1:32 left put the Colonels ahead for good.
In addition to Witt's 27 points for the Colonels, senior forward Michael Haney added 14 points and junior guard Jason McLeish had 10. Junior center Alonzo Hird grabbed 12 rebounds for EKU as the Colonels won the rebounding battle, 39-28.
Jared Newson and Earl Bullock each had 15 for the Skyhawks, now 3-9 overall and 0-1 in the OVC.
The victory for the Colonels breaks a two-game losing streak and ups Eastern's overall record to 9-3 and puts EKU at 1-0 in the OVC.
EKU continues its seven-game road swing Saturday (Jan. 8) night with an 8:15 EST game at OVC pre-season favorite Murray State.
