Box Score WISE, Va. – UVa-Wise men's basketball pulled through in a must-win situation Saturday afternoon inside the David J. Prior Convocation Center with a 100-92 win over Concord University. With the victory, the Cavaliers (9-19, 7-15 MEC) secured a spot in next week's Mountain East Conference Tournament. UVa-Wise shot a blistering 58.3 percent (35-of-60) from the field for the game and held the visiting Mountain Lions (11-17, 7-15 MEC) to 47.4 percent (37-of-78) shooting, including 29.4 percent (10-of-34) from beyond the arc.
 
Three different Cavs posted double-doubles and UVa-Wise played an inspired game throughout, coming up with big shots when it mattered most. Led by a game-high 32 points from redshirt junior forward Taiwo Badmus (London, England), who also grabbed 11 rebounds, the Cavs got a career-high 14 boards and 15 points from freshman guard Chance Sheffey (Staunton, Va.). Freshman point guard Michal Seals (Lancaster, Pa.) tied his career high in assists with 10, while also scoring 17 points.
 
Sheffey completed an old-fashioned 3-point play after about two and a half minutes of play to give UVa-Wise an early five-point lead at 7-2. The Cavs would remain in control for the following five and a half minutes before Concord went on a 13-2 run over the next four minutes to build a seven-point lead at 30-23. The Mountain Lions would go up by seven twice more in the half but that would be the largest lead for the visitors for the remainder of the game.
 
Trailing 40-33 with around five and a half minutes to go in the half, UVa-Wise scored nine unanswered points over the next minute and a half to retake the lead at 42-40 with just over four minutes left. The Cavs outscored the visitors 9-3 over the final 2:45 of the half and took a six-point, 54-48 lead into the break after Seals knocked down a 3-pointer right before the halftime buzzer sounded.
 
UVa-Wise shot an impressive 64.5 percent (20-of-31) from the field in the opening half and went 6-for-10 from distance. Both Badmus and freshman forward Yesid Mosquera-Perea (Quibdó, Chocó, Colombia) had 13 points to lead the Cavs at the break.
 
Another layup by Sheffey gave UVa-Wise its second seven-point lead after five minutes of second-half action. The Cavs took their first double-digit lead of the contest at 71-61 after a Seals layup capped an 8-2 UV-Wise run with 12:34 left. However, Concord responded with a 10-2 run of its own, trimming down the Cavs' lead to two at 73-71 with just over nine minutes to go.
 
UVa-Wise scored seven unanswered points to make it a 10-point game once more at the 6:19 mark after a pair of shots from Mosquera-Perea and Seals and a 3-pointer by Badmus. The Mountain Lions returned the favor with seven unanswered points themselves as a basket from Stephen Thompson cut the Cavs' lead to three at 86-83 with just over four and a half minutes remaining. That would be as close as Concord would get for the rest of the contest though as a Seals jumper completed another 7-0 stretch for UVa-Wise and gave the Cavs a 10-point margin at 93-83 with two and a half minutes to go. Despite two made treys by the Mountain Lions, UVa-Wise knocked down seven free throws down the stretch to secure the eight-point win. Sheffey went a perfect 4-for-4 at the foul line in the final two minutes of play, while Badmus hit two free throws and redshirt sophomore forward Dimitri Sousa (São Paulo, Brazil) added another.  
 
For the second consecutive game the Cavs outrebounded their opponent, owning a 37-33 advantage on the glass.
 
Mosquera-Perea tied his career high with 15 points and Sousa became the fifth UVa-Wise player to score in double figures, finishing with 13. Junior guard Ricardo Hill Jr. (Cincinnati, Ohio) posted eight points and dished out four assists and freshman guard Tajh Eason (Newport News, Va.) collected three rebounds off the bench.
 
Four different Mountain Lions scored in double figures led by Thompson with 27 and a team-high nine boards. Concord also got 23 points and eight rebounds from Aaron Miller, while Tommy Bolte scored 16 points and distributed eight assists. Michal Sanchez earned 10 points and five assists for the Mountain Lions.
 
Although finishing the regular season standings tied with both Concord and Urbana University, all with a 7-15 MEC record, UVa-Wise secured a berth in the league tournament after sweeping the Mountain Lions this season. Concord will be left out of the MEC Tournament after posting a combined 1-3 record against UVa-Wise and Urbana. The Blue Knights head into next week's postseason tournament as the No. 9 seed after sweeping the Cavs this year and going 1-1 against Concord.
 
The Cavs will now turn their attention to postseason play and the 2017 MEC Tournament held at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia. With today's triumph, UVa-Wise has clinched the No. 10 seed and will face seventh-seeded Glenville State College in the MEC Tournament first round, Wednesday, March 1, at 6 p.m.
 
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