RICHMOND, Ky. – Junior Michael Brock posted his first career double-double to help lead the Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team to a 75-61 win over Tennessee-Martin Wednesday evening in McBrayer Arena. The victory was the Colonels' (4-6, 2-2 OVC) second conference triumph in three days and evens their league record with UTM (5-3, 2-2).

Eastern used a 14-1 spurt early in the contest to jump ahead of the Skyhawks, 16-7. Five different Colonels contributed to the run including junior Julian Mascoll, who was making his first appearance of the season. The Colonel lead expanded to as many as 17 in the first half of action, 33-16, before the host team took a 40-28 cushion into the locker rooms. Brock tallied 11 of his 14 points in the opening 20 minutes while Mascoll chipped in with seven points on 3-of-4 (75 percent) shooting from the field.

Tennessee-Martin's defense helped the Skyhawks close to within five points, 55-50, at the 10:55 mark in the second stanza. UTM forced four turnovers in a three-minute stretch leading to six fast-break points and a 13-3 run. However, the Eastern Kentucky defense turned the tables and would hold the Skyhawks scoreless for five-plus minutes allowing the Colonels to rebuild their double-digit lead, 67-54. UT Martin would get no closer than eight points the rest of the way.

The Skyhawks had been leading the OVC in field goal percentage heading into tonight's contest (47.5 percent), but Eastern held UTM to just 36.7 percent shooting. Also, the Colonels outrebounded the opposition for just the second time all year, 41-35.

Brock finished with a career-high 11 rebounds to go along with his 14 points in the EKU win. Senior Jason McLeish led all players with 19 points and shot better than 50 percent from the field for the sixth straight game (63.6 percent). Fellow senior Matt Witt added 18 points and needs just two more three-pointers to establish a new school record in that category.

For Tennessee-Martin, Jared Newson recorded a double-double of his own (14 points, 11 rebounds) while Jeremy Kelly tallied a team-high 18 points.

Eastern Kentucky now has the week off to celebrate the holiday season and will return to action on Dec. 30 in a home game against Coastal Carolina. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. Tennessee-Martin next travels to Purdue to face the Boilermakers on Dec. 28 with a starting time of 8 p.m.