Men's Basketball 01.28.20 Alyce Bryant

Cavalier Men Visit Mars Hill for Wednesday Night Contest

STORYLINES – VS. MARS HILL UNIVERSITY
Mars Hill University enters into Wednesday night's matchup with the visiting UVA Wise Cavaliers with a 7-11 overall mark and are currently 5-7 in South Atlantic Conference play. Head coach Vic Finora's team opened the season with three straight wins against conference foes but have only secured two victories since as the Lions look to snap a five-game losing streak with their sole victory this month against Tusculum University. So far this season, the Lions are averaging 85.1 points per game while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from behind the arc. Senior guard Ja'Shawn Brooks ranks second in the SAC in scoring with his 20.2 ppg while junior Nassyr Daniel claims the league's fifth-best field goal percentage at 59.3 percent. From behind the arc, three Lions rank in the top-10 in the league in three-point field goal percentage in senior Mat-thew Powell (eighth, 48.1 percent), junior Austin Gilyard (ninth, 41.3 percent), and Brooks (10th, 41.1 percent). Coach Finora's squad sits in the top-5 in several categories in the league including free throw percentage (first, 78.6 percent), defensive rebounds (fifth, 27.3 per game), and points per game (fourth, 85.1 per game). Junior Jamal Bryant's 6.6 rebounds per game lead this team and place him eighth in SAC standings while Gilyard's 2.2 assists per game sits atop the category for the Lions. Coach Finora's team will open February with back-to-back home games, hosting the Cobras of Coker University Saturday at 4 p.m.

ABOUT UVA WISE
UVA Wise looks to pick up their first win of 2020 Wednesday night against the Mars Hill Lions after falling this past weekend on the road to the Anderson Trojans. The loss puts the Cavaliers record at 5-13 on the season and 1-11 in the South Atlantic Conference. In the 89-78 decision against the Trojans, four Cavalier men scored in double figures led by sophomore Cameron Whiteside who netted 18 points for his 17th straight double-figure scoring performance this season. Redshirt sophomore Briggs Parris had 14 points while senior Chance Sheffey recorded 11 points and junior Yesid Mosquera-Perea added 14 points off the bench. Whiteside's team- leading 19.8 points per game rank him fourth among league leaders while posting a team-high 7.2 field goals per game (third in the SAC) and sits atop the rebounding category for the Cavs, averaging 6.9 per game (seventh in the SAC). Senior Chance Sheffey is dishing out a team-high 5.1 assists per game to place him third in the conference while his 82.8 free throw percentage ranks him 10th in the conference. In the Cavs last meeting with the Lions, UVA Wise dropped its conference opener in a five-point 92-87 decision inside the David J. Prior Convocation Center. Head coach Blake Mellinger's team will return to Wise following Wednesday night's contest, taking on Catawba College Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m.

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