WISE, Va. - UVa-Wise men's basketball travels to South Euclid, Ohio, to take on Notre Dame College in the opening round of the 2016 Mountain East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Tuesday at 7 p.m.
 
Storylines – at Notre Dame College (2016 Mountain East Conference Tournament First Round)
The Cavaliers are the No. 11 seed in the MEC Tournament and will face the sixth-seeded Falcons, it will be the two teams' third meeting this season.
 
UVa-Wise enters postseason play with a 4-24 overall record and a 2-20 league mark, the Cavs two MEC wins came at Urbana University (85-82) and at home against West Virginia State (102-89). The Falcons enter the MEC Tournament with an 18-10 overall record and a 12-10 league mark.
 
Notre Dame College won the first two meetings by an average of 15.5 points, defeating UVa-Wise 100-83 in South Euclid, Ohio, and 91-77 in Wise. A strong second half by Notre Dame College and poor shooting by the Cavs in the final 20 minutes of play resulted in a victory for the Falcons back on Jan. 12. In the road contest, the Cavs were outscored by 14 points in the second half and connected on only eight second-half field goals. More recently on Feb. 18, the Cavs and Falcons were tied at 33-33 after the first half in the David J. Prior Convocation Center. However, UVa-Wise was outscored by 14 points in the second half as strong rebounding and several scoring runs propelled Notre Dame College to the win. The Cavs were outrebounded 53-34 in the game as the Falcons grabbed 19 rebounds on the offensive side of the ball, which led to 18 second-chance points.
 
Currently, the Falcons have lost four of their last six games, including two MEC losses to unranked opponents. Notre Dame College claimed the No. 6 seed in the MEC Tournament, although the Falcons own the same conference record as the University of Charleston. The Golden Eagles split games against Concord University while the Falcons were swept by the Mountain Lions, giving Charleston the No. 5 seed based on the league's tiebreaking procedure.
 
About UVa-Wise
UVa-Wise is seeking its first MEC Tournament win since joining the conference three years ago, the Cavs have never hosted a first round game and have never been seeded higher than 10th.
 
The 10th-seeded Cavs were defeated 105-82 by the seventh-seeded Cardinals of Wheeling Jesuit University in the first round of 2014 MEC Tournament. In the opening round of the 2015 MEC Tournament, No. 12 UVa-Wise suffered a 92-64 loss at fifth-seeded Glenville State.
 
The Cavs are coming off of a 79-69 defeat at Concord Saturday afternoon in the regular season finale.
 
UVa-Wise senior forward Matt Day has averaged 26 points and 11.5 rebounds in the two games against Notre Dame College this season, including a 30 point, 14 rebound performance against the Falcons in the most recent meeting.
 
Should the Cavs win Tuesday night, they will then face third-seeded and fifth-ranked Fairmont State Friday at 2:15 p.m. in the Charleston Civic Center in downtown Charleston, West Virginia.