WISE – UVA Wise picked up its second consecutive win Wednesday night as the Cavaliers defeated Catawba College, 85-73, inside the David J. Prior Convocation Center.

UVA Wise (2-10, 2-10 SAC) never trailed Catawba (4-6, 4-6 SAC) throughout the contest and led by as many as 17 points in the win. Junior Kaeleb Carter had a career night as he tallied a career-high 25 points on a career-best nine made field goals (9-for-14). The forward also tied his career-high in three-point field goals, connecting on 6-of-9 on the night.

Freshman Bradley Dean collected a season-high 15 points off the bench on 5-of-9 shooting and a knocked down a trio of shots from downtown to mark another season-high. Redshirt junior Briggs Parris also scored in double-figures for the Cavs with 13 points and led the team with three steals.

The Cavs were off to a hot start taking a 14-3 lead four minutes into the contest. UVA Wise maintained a double-digit advantage over Catawba through the first 10 minutes of the half with a dunk by the Indians' Larry McLeod putting Catawba down by 12.

With under five minutes to go in the half, a three by Catawba's Marcus Burwell put the Indians back within single-digits. Catawba used a run to climb back to a two-point deficit, 33-31, with less than four minutes to play in the frame.

UVA Wise held a five-point lead into halftime, up 40-35. Catawba outscored the Cavs 20-10 in the paint while UVA Wise was assisted by 18 points from the bench and 14 points off of 11 miscues for the Indians. The Cavs shot 56.5 percent from the field and 58.3 percent from three in the half.

A quick 6-2 spurt for Catawba opened the second half to cut the margin to one-point, 42-41, with a little over 18 minutes to go.

Back-to-back three-point shots by Parris and Carter capped off a 9-0 run for UVA Wise as the Cavs regained a double-digit lead, 51-41, at the 14:48 mark. Nearly seven minutes later Catawba managed to crawl back to a two-point deficit, but the Cavs extended their margin back to double-digits to hold off Catawba en route to their first home win of the campaign.

On the night, UVA Wise shot 54.3 percent from the field (25-for-46) and 50 percent from three-point range (13-for-26). The Cavs struggled at the line, hitting 22-of-31 (71 percent) at the stripe in the victory.

Catawba finished the night shooting 44.1 percent from the floor and 87.5 percent from the foul line (7-for-8). The Indians' McLeod finished with a double-double of 12 points and 13 boards while Tyrek Williams and Marcus Burwell each ended with 16 points to lead Catawba's scoring effort.

Head coach Blake Mellinger's squad will return to action on the road at Anderson Saturday evening. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m.