Box Score WISE, Va. – UVa-Wise men's basketball dropped a heartbreaking 90-83 overtime decision to the visiting Cougars of NCAA Division III Averett University Thursday afternoon on "Kids Day 2015" in the David J. Prior Convocation Center.
 
With 2,463 in attendance, many of which were students from Wise County schools for "Kids Day 2015", the Cavaliers (1-8, 0-4 MEC) played an exciting 45 minutes of competitive basketball. However, missed opportunities and unmade free throws down the stretch hurt the Cavs and gave Averett (8-2, 0-0 USA South) its seventh win away from home this season.
 
The Cavs turned the ball over a total of 19 times in the game, which led to 23 points for the Cougars. Once again points in the paint went the way of the opponent for UVa-Wise as Averett outscored the Cavs 48-28 down low.
 
Struggling to crash the glass and grab rebounds throughout the contest, UVa-Wise was outrebounded 46 to 34 and only claimed four offensive rebounds while the Cougars took 15 offensive boards. Those second-chance rebounds led to 14 second-chance points for Averett.
 
After a conventional three-point play by senior forward Matt Day (Buckhorn, Ky.), the Cavs took an early 10-5 lead through the first four and a half minutes of play. UVa-Wise stretched its lead to seven off of a layup by redshirt freshman Camryn Fort (Fayetteville, N.C.) for the Cavs' largest advantage of the first half, 14-7 with 15:34 to go.
 
A five and a half minute scoring drought by the Cavs gave the lead back to the Cougars. Averett led by two 17-15 with 10 minutes to go in the half and held onto the lead for the remainder of the opening half. The Cougars' Trevor West knocked down a three-pointer with 3:14 remaining in the half to put Averett up by 10 at 39-29.
 
Averett led by as much as 12 in the opening 20 minutes before the Cavs ended the half on a 7-1 scoring run with Day making a layup and then a three-pointer right before halftime.
 
Down 45-39 at halftime the Cavs shot 50 percent (14-for-28) in the opening half and were 6-for-15 from distance (40 percent). The hot-shooting Cougars made 17-of-31 shots (54.8 percent) in the first 20 minutes, including going 6-for-8 (75 percent) from beyond the arc. UVa-Wise actually outrebounded Averett in the first half, 17-16.
 
UVa-Wise began the second half with a 13-4 run that was capped by a layup from sophomore guard Philip Owens II (Virginia Beach, Va.), taking a 53-49 lead at the 16-minute mark. The Cavs were not able to pull away from the Cougars until they went on an 8-0 run with three's by redshirt freshman guard Lashain Matthews (Staunton, Va.) and sophomore forward Dimitri Sousa (Sao Paulo, Brazil). The run gave UVa-Wise a seven-point 68-61 advantage with 8:01 to go.
 
Averett hung around for the next two and a half minutes before tying up the score at 72-72 after consecutive three-pointers. A traditional three-point play by Averett's Carter Jones gave the Cougars their first lead since the 10:37 mark, going up by two at 76-74 with 3:59 remaining.
 
Day hit a jumper at the 1:40 mark to give the Cavs a promising 80-78 lead as Owens grabbed a defensive rebound on the Cougars' next possession. Following a 30-second timeout, UVa-Wise was not able to get a basket and Averett's West got a layup off of a Cougars' offensive rebound with only 15 seconds remaining.
 
With the score knotted up at 80 apiece the Cavs took another 30-second timeout and played for the final shot of regulation. Owens missed a jumper with about two seconds on the clock to send the game into overtime.
 
The score would be tied up for a ninth and final time at 82-82 after a layup from Day with 3:10 to go in overtime. Although Day was fouled on the play, he was not able to capitalize on the free throw. The Cavs did not score another basket in the game as Averett converted three free throws over the next two minutes and 20 seconds to take a three-point, 85-82 lead with 51 ticks remaining.
 
Day missed a shot on the Cavs' next possession but an offensive deadball rebound gave the ball back to UVa-Wise. Day was fouled with 35 seconds left but only converted on one of his two foul shots, cutting the Cougars' advantage to two. The Cavs elected to foul on Averett's possession and the Cougars only made one of their two free throws.
 
Owens was fouled with 20 seconds to go in OT but missed both of his free throw. The Cougars got a dunk and a layup, along with making two steals, down the stretch to earn the 90-83 overtime victory.
 
UVa-Wise finished shooting 47.5 percent (58-for-59) for the game and 37.9 percent (11-for-29) from distance. The Cavs went 16-for-25 (64 percent) from the charity stripe and were only 1-for-5 from the line in overtime.
 
Averett shot 48.6 percent (35-for-72) for the game, including 52.9 percent (9-for-17) from three-point land. The Cougars were only 11-for-26 (42.3 percent) from the foul line in the game but were 4-for-8 on free throws in OT.
 
Day led all Cavs with his fifth double-double of the season, totaling 28 points and 12 rebounds. Now having scored 1,146 career points, Day moves into 20th-place on UVa-Wise's all-time scoring list.
 
Sousa had a nice game despite fouling out early in overtime, recording a career-high 22 points to go along with seven boards. Redshirt sophomore guard Ricardo Hill Jr. (Cincinnati, Ohio) had perhaps the best game of his young career as a Cav, registering a career-high in assists (9) and steals (4) while tallying five points and a career-high tying five rebounds. Both Owens and junior transfer forward Gervelle Kidd (Martinsville, Va.) finished with eight points.
 
Averett had four players score in double figures led by West with a team-high 19 points, followed by James Contreras Jr. with 16, Bradley Robinson with 15 and Jones with 14. Jones recorded a team-high nine rebounds as Charles Bryant grabbed eight boards and West made six assists.
 
The Cavs will now welcome 14th-ranked King University to the Prior Center Sunday for a 3 p.m. tip. The game will be the Cavs final non-conference game of the season and last before a more than two-week break from competition for Christmas and New Year's.
 
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