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MARTIN, Tenn. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team built a 16-point first half lead, but was then blown away in the final 13 minutes as host UT Martin rallied for a 78-70 win Thursday evening in the Elam Center. The Colonels (15-14, 9-8 OVC) have now dropped three straight games.

Senior Spencer Perrin led EKU with 15 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Junior Joshua Jones added 14 points before going down with an ankle injury with seven minutes remaining.

Mike Liabo paced the Skyhawks (11-19, 6-11) with 21 points while Benzor Simmons tallied 18 points, all of which came in the second half. With the win, UT Martin clinched a spot in the upcoming OVC tournament.

The Colonels controlled play throughout much of the first half and put together a 12-0 spurt to race ahead to a 36-20 lead. Five different EKU players chipped in with a bucket during that stretch.

EKU turned nine UT Martin turnovers into 12 points in the first half to take a 38-26 advantage into halftime.

Eastern still held a comfortable 55-44 lead midway through the second half when the Skyhawks went on a 12-1 run to even the score at 56-all.

Following two more ties, UTM took the lead for good after Simmons connected on a three-pointer to make the score 63-61 with 5:44 remaining. Simmons’ trifecta started another run, this time by a count of 12-1, to put the game away.

During the stretch from 13:46 to 1:44 in the second half, UT Martin outscored Eastern, 34-8, as the Colonels went 2-for-10 (20 percent) from the floor and committed five turnovers.

Eastern Kentucky concludes the regular season Saturday, Feb. 26 at Murray State. Tip time is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

NOTE: The start of the second half was delayed approximately 45 minutes due to a tornado warning in the surrounding area. Another tornado warning, this time with 12:55 left in the game, resulted in another 45-minute delay.