Storylines – vs. University of Charleston
Coming off of a 1-1 week, the University of Charleston enters into Wednesday night's matchup with a 13-7 Mountain East Conference record, 18-8 overall, and currently sit in fourth place in league standings. Dwaine Osborne's team had a four-game win streak snapped last week against Fairmont State, 85-77, at home. Charleston went on to top Shepherd in a five-point victory, 74-69, as the team returns to the road for their final two contests of the regular season. The Golden Eagles are outscoring opponents by an 8.5 margin with Charleston averaging 87.5 points per game and shooting 52.4 percent from the field as the team ranks second in the nation in Division II in field-goal percentage. Charleston's impressive shooting from the floor this season is assisted by two of the team's top scorers in junior Drew Rackley and sophomore Lamont McManus. Rackley is averaging 20.4 ppg and shooting 44.7 percent from the field while McManus is posting 13 ppg and recording the country's second leading field goal percentage at 66.7 percent. Charleston registered a season-high 50 rebounds against UVa-Wise in the two team's last meeting with the Golden Eagles posting 35.7 boards per game at a +6.2 margin over opponents this season. Charleston will wrap up its regular season schedule on the road against West Virginia State Saturday afternoon.
About UVa-Wise
The Cavaliers return to Wise with two pivotal road wins under their belt as UVa-Wise improves to 6-14 in Mountain East Conference play, 9-17 overall, and currently sits in the 10th spot in MEC standings. After a dominating 90-73 road win over Urbana last Thursday, Blake Mellinger's team maintained its focus heading into the second game of the week to secure a 92-87 victory over Notre Dame. The Cavs connected on 9-of-10 shots from the charity stripe in the final minute of the game while redshirt freshman
Briggs Parris knocked down a series of clutch shots from behind the arc to seal the win. In the game, Parris netted his 100th career three-point field goal and is now just 14 shy of tying the individual single-season record for most three-point field goals made (114), currently held by Nat Law (1998-99). As a team, UVa-Wise is averaging 83.2 points per game and shooting 44.7 percent from the field and collecting 38.5 boards per game. Parris leads the Cavalier men in scoring (16.7) while freshman
Cameron Whiteside (13) and junior
Eric Okenchi (11.9) are also averaging double-digit points. Okenchi leads the team in rebounding with 6.8 rpg ranking him ninth in the league with his 2.4 offensive boards and 4.6 defensive boards placing him in the eighth and 10th spot, respectively, in individual league standings. Parris remains in the top-five in the conference in both three-point field goal percentage (43.7 percent) and three-point field goals per game (3.85). His 3.85 three-point field goals per game place him fourth in the country in Division II. The Cavs return to action for Senior Day Saturday taking the court against Concord University. Tip against the Mountain Lions is scheduled for 4 p.m. inside the Prior Center.
