BRISTOL, Tenn. - - In what was the 91st all-time meeting between UVA Wise and King in men's basketball, it was a pair of Southwest Virginia products that carried the visiting Cavaliers across the finish line. Gate City native Bradley Dean netted a game-high 25 points with Coeburn product Luke Lawson scoring 18 points and corralling nine rebounds to lead UVA Wise to a 98-89 triumph inside the Student Center Complex Friday.
UVA Wise (1-0) trailed for the bulk of the first half but, was able to stay within arm's reach of King (0-1) thanks to the offensive play of Dean and Ben Bryson. Dean tallied nine points in the opening 20 minutes while Bryson scored all seven of his points in the opening stanza.
The Tornado had built a nine-point lead at the 12:49 mark of the opening half when Henry Okoye made one of his team's 10 3-pointers on the evening.
From that point on, the Cavs controlled the contest. UVA Wise answered the shot with a 7-0 run spurred by its backcourt. Freshman Calen Lightford ignited the rally with a 3-pointer of his own before consecutive buckets by Dean made it a 25-23 affair at the under 12-minute media timeout.
King would hold the lead until Rron Ukaj scored the first points of his Cavalier career when he scored inside to put the guests up 38-37 with 5:38 to play in the opening half.
The Tornado would tie the game twice over the final moments of the first 20 minutes but, the Cavs would not trail in the contest again.
Leading 49-47 at intermission, Lightford gave his team some breathing room out of intermission. The Huntsville, Ala. native would score seven points in the first three minutes of the half to aid UVA Wise to a 59-49 lead.
The lead would swell to as many as 12 points on several occasions in the second half, the final time coming with 9:14 to play when Zion Fruster's jumper gave the Cavs a 76-64 bulge.
King would not go down without a fight, the Tornado would go on a 9-0 scoring spurt that was highlighted by an alley-oop dunk from Myles McCrary and a 3-pointer by Jordan Akal to trim the deficit to three at 76-73.
Lightford countered with a jumper before a traditional 3-point play by McCrary cut the lead to 78-76. After Fruster and McCrary traded buckets, the score stood at 80-78 with just over five minutes remaining.
The duo of Dean and Lawson would proceed to carry UVA Wise across the finish line. The pair would combine to score the team's final 18 points, including a dagger 3-pointer by Lawson off a Dean assist that made the score 94-87 with under a minute to play.
Dean's 25 points marked the second consecutive game the guard has registered 25 or more points dating back to last season. The 18 points by Lawson are a career-high for the UNC-Asheville transfer who was making his UVA Wise debut.
Lightford added 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting with King transfer J'son Brooks tacking on nine points in the win.
As a team, the Cavs shot 59.3 percent from the floor; it was the best a UVA Wise squad has shot from the field since the team made 60.8 percent of its attempts in a win over West Virginia Wesleyan in 2019.
Michael Mays led King with 22 points, Kenny Turner chipped in 16 with Akal adding 13 points and McCrary scoring 11 in defeat.
Mellinger's team is back in action at King tomorrow at 2 p.m. to tangle with Lees-McRae. The Bobcats won 73-70 over Carson-Newman thanks to a buzzer beater Friday.
