EMORY, VA - The UVA Wise Highland Cavaliers took the stingers out of the Emory & Henry Wasps in the Southwest Virginia battle today, winning 103-95 in overtime in the King Center.
In the first half, the Emory & Henry Wasps were able to sting first with a layup by starting forward Gabe Brown. Cavalier Makai Vassell retaliated with a layup of his own — the first two of 15 points he would produce in the first half. The Cavaliers began to find their footing, going on a six-point run led by the efforts of Grayson Honaker who hadn't touched the floor in the 2021-22 season until today at the 13:27 mark of the first half.
The Wasps were able to crawl their way back ahead of the Cavs at the 9:15 mark when guard Malcolm Morgan bucketed a three-pointer to give the team a 17-16 lead. After a solid six minutes of back-and-forth scoring, Cavalier Isaiah McAmis made his presence known with a posterizing three-pointer to snag a UVA Wise six-point lead. At the first-half buzzer, the Cavs led by a mere two points.
After a trip to the locker room, Emory & Henry snagged the ball away from the Cavs and started the second half with a Morgan shot from downtown. Morgan then made the next four of the Wasps' seven points, giving them a 54-47 lead.
But Honaker popped off, dropping the next eight points for the Cavs to put them ahead by a point. After 12 minutes, the efforts of Gabe Brown and Micah Banks had put the Wasps ahead by five at the 2:31 mark, and the Wasps had thought they had taken the game away on their own court. But a foul by Brown to put Honaker at the line, a Joel Pettiford layup, and a daggering three-pointer by Vassell with 14 seconds to go tied the game up, and the Cavs and the Wasps had punched a ticket on the overtime train.
With five minutes of overtime added to the clock, McAmis crowned himself a true player in the Southwest Virginia battle and dropped a three-pointer in the first minute to put the Cavs up by three. Honaker was unstoppable at the arc, dropping another three-pointer to secure a game-changing lead. The work between Tyler Lloyd, Dean, Vassell, and Honaker in the final seconds had secured a huge win for the Cavaliers by a score of 103-95.
Vassell of the Cavs led the day with 26 points, his career-high. Southwest Virginia native Honaker dropped an incredible 23 points in his UVA Wise debut, helping to secure the first win of the Cavaliers' season. Other Southwest Virginia natives Dean and McAmis dropped 12 points and eight points, respectively. Lloyd was third on the leaderboard dropping 19 points in the Cavalier effort.
This was the first time UVA Wise and Emory & Henry had played each other since Dec. 12, 2009. The Cavaliers won, 89-74 meaning it has now been 4,043 days since the Wasps tasted victory in the rivalry.
The Cavaliers play Lincoln Memorial University on Wednesday, Dec. 15 at 7:30 PM. For all streaming and other information, visit www.uvawisecavs.com.
