WISE - - West Virginia State posted a 118-113 overtime victory over UVa-Wise at the Prior Center on Thursday.  The Yellow Jackets survived a contest that featured 69 fouls, 84 free throws, and five technical fouls.  Four of the technical fouls came on double technical fouls and seven players fouled out of the contest. 

West Virginia State (5-5, 2-5 MEC) fell behind 45-36 in the opening half as UVa-Wise's (6-5, 3-4 MEC) Javon Moore scored 20 of his 27 points in the half.  The Cavaliers Deon Boyce also scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a half that saw 26 fouls and 29 foul shots.

UVa-Wise maintained its lead until seven minutes to go in the game when Juan Johnson gave State a 75-74 lead.  A jumper by Boyce would return the lead to the Cavaliers with 5:45 to play which would start a string of five lead changes over the game's final six minutes.

The Cavs appeared to put the game away when James Turner canned a pair of free throws with 1:50 to play that gave the host a 93-87 lead.  From there, the Jackets would go on a 7-0 run spurred by five quick points by Dominic Phillips.  The visitors took the lead with 38 ticks remaining on back-to-back free throws by Bo King.  

State would take a three point lead one possession later when Phillips sank a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining.  At that point, UVa-Wise called timeout to set up one final play with four seconds left in the game.  On the play, Matt Day attempted what he thought was a 3-point shot to tie the game, the Buckhorn, Ky. native was fouled on the shot but was ruled to have been inside the arc when the shot left his hands.  Day went to the line and made his first free throw, he then intentionally missed his second shot, got his own rebound only to see his put back attempt blocked, Day recovered the block and put the ball in the basket as the horn sounded to tie the game at 98 and send the game to overtime.

In the extra session, UVa-Wise would lose its top two leading scorers as Boyce would foul out with 35 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks along with Moore fouling out with seven boards, six assists and four steals in addition to his 27 points.  When Boyce fouled out of the game, the Cavs held a three point lead, his foul led to a 3-point play that tied the game at 108.  A possession later, Tyler Maggard drained a 3-pointer for UVa-Wise to give them a three-point lead with 1:22 to play.  Moore would foul out on the next possession and the Jackets would close the game on a 10-2 run to score the 118-113 victory.

King finished with a team-high 34 points for the Jackets while Phillips added 33 points in the win.  As a team, State shot 30-35 from the foul line while UVa-Wise made just 31 of its 49 attempts.

The Cavs will return to action on Saturday when the team travels to Shepherd for a 4 p.m. tip.   You can catch the action live on www.uvawisecavs.com/showcase