WISE – For the first time in his career, sophomore guard Patrick Shelley had a 25-point, 10-rebound double-double in Tuesday night's win over Southern Wesleyan (0-4). Shelley set a new career high in both points and rebounds with his performance.
The Cavaliers (3-2) had five scorers in double figures on the night behind Shelley's career-best 25 points. Sophomore guard Zion Fruster had 18 points, marking the fifth straight game in which he's scored 17 or more. Freshman guard Carmelo Pacheco had 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting with a pair of triples, marking the best scoring night of his young career. Junior transfers Zy'Ever Wingfield and Lav Cvetkovic' each added 10 points in the win as well.
After struggling in almost all areas offensively against No. 16 North Georgia in the previous game, UVA Wise got back to its bread and butter Tuesday.
The Cavs forced 13 Warrior turnovers and scored 19 points off those turnovers. The bench contributed 20 points and UVA Wise was able to run in transition again, scoring 20 points in the fast break.
It was a much better shooting night for head coach Blake Mellinger's squad as the Cavs went 31-for-59 (52.5 percent) from the floor and 12-for-28 (42.9 percent) from deep. UVA Wise has been one of the better passing teams in the country early in this season and that continued with 20 assists on 31 made field goals Tuesday night.
The Cavs will head into the holiday break as the second best passing team in the SAC and ranking 19th nationally with 19.0 assists per game this season.
In Tuesday's non-conference contest, the Cavs jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and were up 11-4 minutes later before Southern Wesleyan sparked a quick 11-0 run to make it 15-11.
From there, the two teams would remain neck and neck all the way to the halftime break with the score 39-35 in favor of the Cavs at halftime.
The second half was surprisingly similar to the first. The Cavs jumped out of the locker room with seven quick points to lead 46-35.
Southern Wesleyan responded, forcing three turnovers and scoring seven points in just 23 seconds to make it a five-point game at 55-50.
It was the Shelley show the rest of the way for the Cavs, as the Rome, Ga. native scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half which included four three pointers. His five made threes is the most in a game in Shelley's career.
Alongside Shelley was Fruster signing his name on the score sheet multiple times. His 14 second half points contributed to his 18 in total for the game.
Fruster's 18.4 points per game this season leads UVA Wise and currently ranks eighth among all scorers in the South Atlantic Conference. He's shooting an astonishing 32-for-64 (50 percent) from the floor which ranks fifth in the conference, while adding a 44 percent mark from downtown.
The Cavs get ready for their first SAC contest of the season as Wingate travels to Wise on Saturday, Nov. 25. Tip off is set for 4 p.m.
