Box Score WISE, Va. – West Virginia Wesleyan defeated the UVa-Wise men's basketball team 77-70 Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference matchup at the David J. Prior Convocation Center. The visiting Bobcats (3-3, 1-2 MEC) scorched the nets against the Cavaliers (1-6, 0-3 MEC) as West Virginia Wesleyan shot 61.2 percent (30-of-49) from the field, including 64 percent (16-of-25) in the first half.
 
Despite shooting 52.8 percent (28-of-53) for the game, UVa-Wise's 15 turnovers turned into 22 Bobcat points. The Cavs simply could not find a way to stop West Virginia Wesleyan and were unable to make a long enough run to get closer than six points in the second half. UVa-Wise trailed for all but two minutes of the game despite staying within striking distance for much of the time.
 
The Cavs lone lead in the game came after the first bucket, a layup by freshman point guard Michal Seals (Lancaster, Pa.) 41 seconds into the contest. A layup by West Virginia Wesleyan's Luka Petrovic tied up the score at 2-2 a minute later, it would be the only tie in the game as the Bobcats went on a 16-5 run over the next five and a half minutes. Another layin from Seals capped an 11-4 run by UVa-Wise, making it a four-point game at 22-18 with nine minutes to go in the half.
 
UVa-Wise continued to chip away at the deficit and got within two at 27-25 when junior guard Ricardo Hill Jr. (Cincinnati, Ohio) knocked down his second 3-pointer of the half. Over the next four minutes of play, West Virginia Wesleyan outscored the Cavs 10-2 and led by 10 at 37-27 with two and half minutes remaining in the half. A layup by sophomore forward Leandro Amador (São Paulo, Brazil) and another from redshirt junior forward Taiwo Badmus (London, England) got UVa-Wise within six as the Bobcats took a 37-31 lead into the half.
 
The Cavs shot the ball at 50 percent (13-of-26) and went 4-for-8 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes of play. However, West Virginia State was even more impressive from the field and went 5-for-10 from downtown.
 
Five quick points by the visiting Bobcats and no UVa-Wise baskets in the first two minutes of the second half gave West Virginia Wesleyan an 11-point 42-31 advantage. The Cavs were unable to get within more than seven points over the next 10 minutes of play as the Bobcats extended their lead to as much as 13 with 9:29 remaining. A layup by Badmus capped an 8-2 UVa-Wise run and got the Cavs within six at 63-57 with five minutes to play.
 
UVa-Wise would get within six twice more but every time West Virginia Wesleyan would respond with a basket deep into the shot clock, keeping a safe distance and eating up the clock. Down by 12 at 75-63 with 26 seconds left, Badmus made a layup and forced a Bobcat turnover before junior guard DeMarcus Edwards (Washington, D.C.) hit a deep 3-pointer. But it was too little, too late as Brooks made two more foul shots to seal the game for West Virginia Wesleyan. Seals got one more layup before time expired, allowing the Cavs to outscore the Bobcats 7-2 over the final 25 seconds of the game.
 
The Cavs hit 55.6 percent (15-of27) of their shots in the second half but went 2-for-7 from 3-point land. UVa-Wise was able to outscore West Virginia Wesleyan 42-32 in points in the paint but was outscored off the bench, 13-9.
 
Badmus led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting to go along with a team-high six rebounds, while Seals posted a double-double of 13 points and a career-high 10 assists. Amador finished with eight points and five boards for the Cavs as Hill Jr. also tallied eight points. Edwards and redshirt sophomore forward Dimitri Sousa (São Paulo, Brazil) each chipped in six points.
 
The Bobcats had three score in double figures led by Mo Berchie with 24 points, followed by Kevin Kangni with 15 points, a team-high five assists and six rebounds, and Luke Layhew with 10 points and a team-high seven boards. West Virginia Wesleyan also got nine points and four assists from Clay Todd and seven points from Brooks.
 
The Cavs will now travel to Glenville, West Virginia, Saturday to take on Glenville State College, tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. or 20 minutes after the completion of the women's game.
 
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