Junior guard Raymond Cintron also reached double figures with 12 points and produced three assists and a career-best three steals as the Blue Raiders improved to 9-2 on the season. Overall, nine Blue Raiders scored in Saturday's contest.
MT shot 64.4 percent from the field while holding the Skyhawks to 46 percent shooting. The Blue Raiders capitalized on turnovers as well, scoring 25 points off 20 takeaways while allowing just nine points on 12 turnovers. MT also took advantage from the charity stripe, knocking down 17-of-22 free throws.
Myles Taylor led the way for UTM (2-9) with 19 points, while Mike Liabo added 13 points and Corderio Maclin scored 10.
Dendy opened the game with a reverse layup on a pass from Cintron, who made his first start of the year, and JT Sulton’s breakaway dunk made it a 4-0 lead.
The Skyhawks knocked down their first bucket at the 17:16 mark and quickly tied the game at 4-4 on Dane Smith’s jumper.
Knight sparked a 7-2 run when he drove along the baseline for a layup then found Dendy inside for another bucket. Knight’s triple from the corner gave the Blue Raiders an 11-6 lead with 15:05 to play in the first frame.
UTM responded with five straight points, including three free throws, to knot it again at 11 with 13:52 remaining in the half. Liabo knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers sandwiched around a jumper from Knight, then Dendy zipped a pass to Shawn Jones for the dunk to make it 17 all at the 11:42 mark.
The two teams continued the back-and-forth contest, with five ties in the first half, until the 5:41 mark when MT began to pull away with a 10-2 run sparked by Knight’s jumper and capped by Gallman’s bucket in the final seconds of the stanza.
The Blue Raiders held the Skyhawks without a field goal for the final 6:12 of the first half and headed to the break with a 34-25 advantage.
After Taylor knocked down a pair of baskets to open the half for UTM, Dendy took over at both ends. He scored eight straight points for the Blue Raiders, hitting a jumper then converting his block at one end to points at the other with a floating layup. Dendy’s pair of free throws gave MT a 13-point lead with 16:30 to go, and he completed the stretch with a layup in the paint to make it 44-33 at the 14:28 mark.
Cintron’s triple with 11:55 to play made it 49-35, and Jacquez Rozier’s pair of free throws gave MT a 16-point advantage with 11:36 to go.
The Skyhawks worked the deficit to 12 with 8:02 remaining, but Cintron answered with his second trey of the game to stretch MT’s lead back to 15.
Liabo knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:01 to play to cut it to 11 before Knight banked in a jumper and Cintron sank two free throws for the 66-51 lead.
The Blue Raiders took their largest lead of the game after Knight found Dendy alone under the basket for a dunk, then Sulton and Knight delivered back-to-back jumpers for a 78-60 advantage with 23 seconds left.
Taylor’s layup with seven seconds remaining accounted for the final score of 78-62.
MT wraps up the two-game home stint with a rematch against Belmont on Tuesday. On Nov. 20, the two teams battled through double overtime before the Bruins handed the Blue Raiders an 87-84 loss, their first of the season. MT and Belmont are slated for a 7 p.m. CT tipoff and the game will air live online via ESPN3.com. The US Marine Corps Reserve will also be on hand to accept unwrapped toys at the game for Toys for Tots. These toys will be distributed as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community.
