WISE – Men's basketball routed the Bruins of Piedmont International Tuesday night in an 88-70 home opening win for the Cavaliers. All five starters scored in double-figures for UVa-Wise with redshirt sophomore Briggs Parris netting a game-high 22 points in the win.
UVa-Wise (1-2) gained an early advantage, up 14-10 over the Bruins (0-2) on a jumper by senior Eric Okenchi with 14:15 left in the first half. The Cavs maintained the lead with a Parris three-pointer giving UVa-Wise a seven-point advantage, 23-16, with 9:20 to go.
The Cavs opened up a double-digit lead with just over seven minutes to play before a 9-0 run for UVa-Wise gave the Cavs their largest lead of the half, 40-21, with just under five minutes left. The Bruins were unable to comeback with a last second shot to end the half cutting Piedmont International's deficit to 11 points, down 47-36 to the Cavs into the half.
Parris opened the game with 17 points in the first half on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. Freshman Drew Greene followed with seven points in the opening half while senior Chance Sheffey added six assists and five rebounds for the Cavs. The team shot 51.6 percent (16-for-31) from the floor, 53.3 percent (8-for-15) from three, and connected on 7-of-8 (87.5 percent) shots from the charity stripe to start.
A 6-2 run for the Bruins to open the second half cut the Cavs lead to seven, 49-42, with less than 17 minutes to go. UVa-Wise continued to control the game, up by 14, 58-44, on a dunk by sophomore Kaeleb Carter. Another three later in the game for Parris gave UVa-Wise its largest lead of the night at 18 points, 67-49, with 9:36 on the clock.
Another run for Piedmont International put the Bruins down by just eight points, 74-66, at the 4:42 mark. Back-to-back buckets for sophomore Cameron Whiteside less than a minute later extended the Cavs lead as UVa-Wise regained their double-digit advantage. The Cavs went on to pick up the first win of the campaign, 88-70, over the Bruins.
Okenchi was the sole Cavalier to record double-figures in the second half with 12 points while Whiteside finished the closing half with nine points and six boards. The team connected on just two shots from downtown (2-for-10) and shot 50 percent (16-for-32) from the floor. Okenchi finished as the second-leading scorer for the Cavs with 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting alongside six boards and a block. Whiteside followed with 13 points and seven rebounds while Carter netted 10 points for his third-consecutive double-figure contest. Sheffey also finished with 10 points while leading the team in both assists (7) and rebounds (9) in the win.
Head coach Blake Mellinger's team will return to action tomorrow for an exhibition tilt at Division I program Samford University. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. in Birmingham, Alabama.
