WISE – Men's basketball was edged at home Saturday afternoon in a 73-70 loss to Newberry College. Junior Cameron Whiteside finished with a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds. Redshirt junior Briggs Parris also netted double-figures with 13 points and a season-high four assists.

UVA Wise (0-10, 0-10 SAC) secured an early lead as Newberry (5-2, 5-2 SAC) cut the Cavs advantage down to four with 14:31 to play, 9-5.

Scoreless for over two minutes, redshirt sophomore Joseph Keenan connected on his only three of the game to widen the gap to double-digits as UVA Wise led 21-11 with 8:12 on the clock. Another three by sophomore Drew Greene put the Cavs ahead by their largest margin of the half, up 26-14 at the 6:25 mark.

The Wolves took their first lead of the night on a 13-0 run to put Newberry in front 27-26 with 1:16 on the clock. UVA Wise used its own run to end the half, holding a 33-27 lead into the break.

Both teams recorded 14 points in the paint while UVA Wise had eight points off of six first half Newberry turnovers.

UVA Wise pulled down 16 first half rebounds while Newberry had 23. The Cavs shot 48.1 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from downtown in the opening frame. The Wolves shot 36.4 percent from the floor in the first half and just 15.4 percent from behind the arc.

A quick five points pulled Newberry back within one point, 33-32, with just under 18 minutes left in the game.

Freshman Ben Bryson and Parris combined for a 7-0 Cavalier run to put UVA Wise on top, 40-32, with 15:37 to play.

UVA Wise gained another double-digit lead at the 10:46 mark as sophomore Izeah Parker knocked down a jumper in the paint.

The Wolves slowly climbed back to tie the game at the 5:26 mark, 60-60. UVA Wise pulled back ahead over the next two minutes, but Newberry managed to knot the game once more with 3:08 on the clock, 68-68.

UVA Wise trailed by just one point, 71-70, with under a minute to play, but the Wolves utilized a pair of free throw shots by Robin Bedford to extend Newberry's lead to three points with 16 seconds on the clock. The Cavs would not be able to get a shot to fall late in the game as Newberry secured the 73-70 win.

The Cavs finished the second frame with 14 points in the paint compared to 16 for the Wolves. Newberry shot 60 percent from the field in the second half and 54.5 percent from three-point range.

On the night, UVA Wise finished with 26 rebounds compared to 42 for Newberry. The Cavs ended the contest shooting 44.4 percent from the floor and 36 percent from three. UVA Wise went 13-for-20 (65 percent) from the charity stripe in the game.

Newberry had three players score double-digit points led by QuanDaveon McCollum who had a double-double of 26 points and 10 rebounds.

Whiteside also added a team-high four assists while freshman Bradley Dean notched a season-high eight points on 3-of-5 shooting in the loss.

Head coach Blake Mellinger's squad will return to action next Saturday for a 4 p.m. game at Limestone University.