Darius Cox Scores Career-High 23 points In Loss

UT Martin's Lester Hudson sank two free throws with 1.7 seconds remaining in the game to sink Tennessee State 75-74 on Monday in Nashville.

Tennessee State (5-9, 2-3) had four players score in double figures, led by a career-high 23 points from Darius Cox. Jerrell Houston tallied 18 points, followed by Bruce Price (16) and Gerald Robinson, Jr. (13).

UT Martin was paced by Lester Hudson's game-high 27 points. Three other Skyhawks saw double digits as Marquis Weddle scored 12 points with Djero Riedwald and Sam Pearson scoring 10 each.

An exciting contest from start to finish, the game saw the score tied ten times with thirteen lead changes. In the first half, TSU jumped to an early 12-7 lead (15:17), but the Skyhawks took the lead 16-14 at the 11:00 mark. UTM built a seven point lead (29-22) with 5:31 remaining in the half on a layup by Lester Hudson, but TSU trimmed the lead to three points (37-34) at the half on a FT by Jerrell Houston.

Starting the second half, TSU surged to a brief three point lead (40-37) at 18:54 and the teams traded baskets and the lead until the 15:10 mark when UTM went on a 6-0 run to take a 54-47 lead at 14:06. TSU responded with an 11-2 run, and a 58-56 lead with 11:20 left. The teams traded leads and ties until TSU pulled ahead 74-71 on a Gerald Robinson, Jr. layup with eight seconds remaining. UTM's Carlos Wright was fouled on a 3-point shot with 7.1 seconds remaining and he hit two of three for a 74-73 game. TSU's Jerrell Houston was fouled with 6.9 second remaining but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Hudson was fouled with 1.7 remaining and sank two FTs to win the game.

Tennessee State won the battle of the boards 36-33, and shot 46.8% (29-62) from the floor and 78.6% (11-14) from the charity stripe. UT Martin shot 45.8% (27-59) from the floor and 70.6% (12-17) from the FT line.