In the first half of Thursday night’s game against the Racers of Murray State, it looked as though the Skyhawks would pull out their second Ohio Valley Conference upset in a week.

Unfortunately, the third-ranked MSU came out of the locker room blazing, and stopped the Skyhawks, 80-56.

The Skyhawks stunned the Racer fans in the first half by holding Murray scoreless for the first five minutes, going on an 8-0 run.

The Racers came back and the two teams battled for the lead, with neither team ever ahead by more than those first eight points. The half ended in a 29-all tie.

After the break, MSU picked up where they left off last time the two teams met this season and went on a 24-6 run to open the half.

The Skyhawks were never able to get back the momentum they had in the first half, only able to knock down one three-pointer in the final twenty minutes.

Overall, Jared Newson was 9-17 from the field and was the leading scorer for either team with 23 points. Newson also picked up five rebounds.

The Skyhawks had two other players finish with double digit point totals, Justin smith tacked on 14 points and three rebounds and Will Lewis added 11 and led the team in rebounds with six.

UTM was out rebounded by the Racers, 39-24, and committed 21 turnovers which accounted for 27 of the Racer’s 80 points.

Coming off the disappointing loss to Murray, the Skyhawks continued on their road trip to take on Tennessee State.

UTM redeemed itself by defeating the Tigers, 74-68, Saturday night in Nashville, ending TSU’s five home game winning streak.

The Skyhawks kept it close in the first, despite going into halftime down by three. They were 9-19 from the field and 3-7 from past the 3-point line during the first 20 minutes.

“We want to limit them to 30 or 35 points each half,” head coach Bret Campbell said. “We let them get 34 and 34 and that’s not bad.”

In the second half, the game went back and forth until UTM took the lead for good with 3:08 left in the half. A dunk by Lewis put the Skyhawks on top 66-65.

UTM clinched the victory by making every free throw down the stretch, having an 80 percent free-throw percentage in the second half.

The Skyhawks had five players finish in double digits.

Newson once again lead both teams in scoring with 16 points and seven rebounds. Lewis picked up the double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Smith and Cleve Woodfork both added 11 points to the total, and Aaron Ferrel had a career high 10 points.

Overall, the Skyhawks out rebounded the Tigers, 40-34.

“Everybody’s number who was called stepped up and did what they were supposed to do,” said Campbell. “I thought it was a great effort tonight.”

Oddly enough, the Tigers had fewer turnovers, 18-11, more points off turnovers, 22-10, more points in the paint, 35-30, and more bench points, 27-20, than the Skyhawks.

The Skyhawks look to break even for the road swing, when they wrap up their season Saturday at Southeast Missouri State. Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.