WISE - - UVa-Wise opened up Mountain East Conference play with a convincing 93-70 win over the Blue Knights of Urbana Saturday afternoon. Junior forward Eric Okenchi put up a season-high 16 points and four steals along with seven rebounds in the win.
Junior guard Michal Seals led the offense for the Cavs with 22 points and seven assists. Freshman guard Briggs Parris and sophomore forward Jordan Pointer each had 12 points in the win.
The Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 MEC) got off to a 7-0 start topped off by a Parris three pointer with a little over a minute played. Urbana (0-2, 0-1 MEC) would respond with a 9-0 run to take a 14-9 lead on a jumper by the Blue Knight's Matt Treacy with 15:24 on the clock. Back-to-back three's by Seals and Parris would give UVa-Wise a one-point advantage, 17-16, with 13:42 to go in the first half. Urbana would stay in the game, taking back the lead on a Treacy three ball before a pair of free throws by junior guard Chance Sheffey tied the game at 26-26 with 10:23 on the clock. The Cavs would put up nine unanswered points as Seals knocked down a jumper to give UVa-Wise a 35-29 lead with a little under eight minutes to play in the half. Freshman guard Cameron Whiteside would then drain a three form the corner to put the Cavs up 40-33 with 6:13 left. Pointer would throw down a dunk for a 46-38 UVa-Wise lead with 3:46 on the clock. A quick four points for freshman forward Kaeleb Carter would give the Cavs their largest lead of the half with the scoreboard reading 50-39 with less than three minutes to play. Senior guard Rahji Langford would cap off the first half scoring as the Cavs went into halftime with a 15-point 56-41 lead.
Seals was unstoppable to start shooting 78 percent (7-for-9) from the field with 19 points, four assists, and two steals. Okenchi followed with eight points, three rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Parris hit two from beyond the arc while Pointer knocked down all three of his field goals in the opening half. UVa-Wise shot 61.8 percent (21-for-34) from the floor and hit 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) from downtown. The Cavs defense forced 12 Blue Knights turnovers and posted nine steals.
UVa-Wise would go for an early 6-0 run to start the second half holding a 62-43 advantage over Urbana at the 17:45 mark. A Sheffey jumper would put the Cavs up 67-49 with 14:44 on the clock. A Whiteside three ball would later give UVa-Wise a 25-point advantage with a 76-51 lead over Urbana with 11:30 to play. The Cavs held their largest lead of the game on a jumper by freshman guard Jordan Twyman to put UVa-Wise up by 29 points for an 80-51 lead with 10:44 to go. UVa-Wise would hold on to a 20+ point lead for the remainder of the contest as Parris knocked down his fourth shot from downtown to give UVa-Wise an 88-62 lead with under three to play. The Cavs would go on to defeat the Blue Knights 93-70.
The Cavs were assisted with 17 points off the bench in the second half and 22 points inside the paint. UVa-Wise went 15-for-30 (50 percent) from the floor with 25 boards, three blocks, and six steals in the half.
Blake Mellinger's squad shot 36-for-64 (56.3 percent) from the floor on the night, going 8-for-14 (57.1 percent) from downtown. UVa-Wise had 48 points inside the paint and were aided with 35 bench points. The Cavs capitalized off of a strong defensive performance, netting 22 points off of Urbana turnovers and recording 15 steals to the Blue Knights' two. Urbana was 28-for-69 (40.6 percent) from the field while hitting only 7-of-25 (28 percent) three point shots in the Blue Knights loss.
The Cavalier men return to action Monday night with a home contest against the Falcons of Notre Dame. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside the David J. Prior Convocation Center.
