WISE - - The Cavalier men downed the Buffaloes of Milligan College on Saturday night, 79-73, to close out 2017. Redshirt senior Taiwo Badmus and sophomore Michal Seals both earned double-doubles with Badmus collecting 19 points and 10 rebounds while Seals had 17 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in the win.
The Cavaliers (6-6) held an 11 point lead, 16-5, over the Buffs (4-10) with 11:41 to go in the first half. Milligan would continue to battle, cutting the lead to six points, 24-18, with 4:34 on the clock. A three-pointer by Seals would put the lead back up to 11 points for UVa-Wise, 29-18, with just over three minutes to go in the first.
A dunk by junior forward Leandro Amador would boost the Cavs to their largest lead of the night, going up by 13 points, 33-20, with 2:14 on the clock. UVa-Wise would head into halftime with a 37-26 advantage over Milligan.
The Cavaliers shot just 11-for-35 from the field in the first half, going 4-for-14 from beyond the arc. Milligan went 11-for-30 from the floor and 4-for-12 from downtown to end the first half.
A three-pointer by Milligan's Daxton Bostian would open up the second half, but would be followed by a slam at the other end by Badmus to put the Cavs up 39-29 with 18:32 on the clock. The Buffs would continue to rally, cutting the Cavaliers lead down to just two points with a little over eight minutes left in the ball game, 60-58. Milligan's Will Robinson would knock down a three to put the Buffs within one point, 64-63, at the 5:33 mark.
Back-to-back layups by sophomores Tajh Eason and Chance Sheffey extended the Cavs lead to eight, 74-66, with 2:08 left in the second half. A jumper by Seals with less than a minute to play would seal the win for UVa-Wise with the Cavaliers going on to defeat the Buffs by a final score of 79-73.
Badmus and Seals led the Cavalier men in scoring and rebounding with Seals adding nine assists, narrowly missing a triple-double. Sophomore forward Yesid Mosquera-Perea finished with 13 points and nine rebounds while Eason had 13 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Chance Sheffey added 12 points and four rebounds for the Cavaliers.
UVa-Wise shot just 27-for-70 (38.6 percent) in the game, going 8-for-27 from three-point range. The Cavs grabbed 49 rebounds and had nine steals in the win. Milligan went 30-for-64 (46.9 percent) from the field, shooting 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) from downtown.
The Buffs were led in scoring by junior forward Aaron Levarity who had 16 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Daxton Bostian and senior David Casaday both had 15 points for the Buffaloes while junior Will Buckner added 10 points.
The Cavs will resume conference play on the road in 2018 taking on Fairmont State University on Jan. 4 and Shepherd University on Jan. 6.
