Tennessee State basketball advanced to Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship game for the first time since 2012 by defeating UT Martin 68-55 in the semifinals on March 6 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
It marks only the fourth time in its NCAA Division I history that TSU has advanced to the tournament finals. The Tigers have only secured the OVC’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament by winning the 1992-93 and 1993-94 championships.
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The No. 1 seed Tigers (22-9) will have the opportunity to return to the NCAA Tournament under first-year coach Nolan Smith when the Tigers play the winner of the other semifinal game between No. 2 seed Morehead State and No. 3 seed Southeast Missouri State in the championship game on March 7 (8 p.m., ESPN2).
The win over No. 4 seed UT Martin (22-11) was the third this season for TSU, which claimed the OVC regular season championship for the first time since tying Murray State in 1994-95.
The Tigers had clobbered UT Martin 67-42 in the final regular season game on Feb. 28. The Tigers held the Skyhawks to a season-low points in that game.
The semifinal win did not come as easily for TSU. The Skyhawks trailed by just two points until TSU made a run late in the first half. The Tigers outscored UT Martin 8-0 to take a 36-28 lead at halftime.
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TSU maintained that momentum in the second half. TSU was up 44-30 five minutes into the second half and 57-41 at the midway point.
OVC player of the year Aaron Nkrumah led TSU in scoring in each of its games against UT Martin this season. He had 19 points, including three 3-pointers, on March 6. Travis Harper II had 14 points and Antoine Lorrick III had 13 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Andrija Bukumirovic led UT Martin with 17 points and Filip Petkovski added 11.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee State basketball playing for OVC championship, March Madness
