The Cavs have one final home game left in the 2023 calendar year as they welcome the Chowan Hawks (5-5, 1-2 Conference Carolinas) for their last game before getting 11 days off for the holiday break. UVA Wise will finish the year with a road game against No. 6 West Liberty on Saturday, Dec. 30 at 4 p.m.

UVA WISE NEWS AND NOTES

>> The Cavs will look to celebrate the holiday season with a win in their final game before Christmas against the Chowan Hawks. UVA Wise is currently looking to extend its first win streak of the season to three games after a thrilling win over rival Emory & Henry last Wednesday.

In an intense battle UVA Wise pulled out the gutsy win on the back of 21 points from sophomore guard Zion Fruster. Senior guard Ben Bryson made his third start of the year and added 12 points on a trio of three pointers and two clutch free throws to ice the game in waning seconds. Redshirt sophomore forward Joe'l Pettiford chipped in 10 points with three rebounds and an emphatic block against Preseason All-SAC First Team member Gabe Brown.

In the second half the Cavs trailed by as much as seven points. After coming back and vaulting to it's largest lead of the night at nine points with 2:36 left, UVA Wise was backed into corner after a multitude of free throws from the Wasps. Trailing by six, Brown was fouled while shooting a three pointer and made all of his free throws. The next trip down the floor, sophomore forward Jacob Dar was also fouled while shooting a three and on the same play the Cavs were given a technical foul. Dar made his free throws, Brown made both technical shots and suddenly UVA Wise had seen its six-point lead vanish to just one in a single play.

Still, the Cavs held strong with a stop on defense on the ensuing possession. Sophomore guard Calen Lightford was then intentionally fouled and made both charity shots. A pair of missed, would-be game tying three pointers by Emory & Henry led to a Bryson rebound after which he was immediately fouled. Bryson iced the game with two makes and UVA Wise held on for the win.

The Cavs enter Monday's contest maintaining their mark as the best shooting team in the South Atlantic Conference. UVA Wise leads the SAC in effective field goal percentage (59.5 percent) and overall field goal percentage (50.6 percent). Both marks are top 25 in NCAA D2 and the Cavs are No. 9 in effective field goal percentage.
 

ABOUT THE CHOWAN HAWKS

>> The Hawks will make the trip to Wise on Monday with a 5-5 overall record this season, having gone 1-2 in Conference Carolinas play so far this season. They're coming off a Saturday evening loss on the road to Southern Wesleyan, a common opponent with UVA Wise, in which the Hawks fell in a close one, 79-77. The Hawks are 2-1 against common opponents with UVA Wise this season (Lenoir-Rhyne, Emory & Henry, Chowan).

Despite its record, Chowan has been close in all five losses this year. In fact, the Hawks have not lost a game by more than five points, which came in an 87-82 overtime loss to St. Augustine who Chowan promptly turned around and beat in a rematch just 13 days later. Chowan's average margin of defeat is just 3.8 points this season.

The Hawks, similar to UVA Wise, lead their conference and are one of the better three point shooting teams in the nation. Averaging 29.8 three point attempts per game ranks them No. 7 nationally. Monday's game will be just the first time this season UVA Wise (28.4 three point attempts per game) is facing an opponent who averages more threes attempted than itself. Chowan is making 10.7 threes per game, No. 14 in the country, but those numbers calculate out to season percentage of 35.8 percent from downtown which slots in at No. 106 in the nation.

The Hawks are led by three double-digit per game scorers. Junior guard Daylan Askew is averaging 18.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists this season but was limited to just six points at Southern Wesleyan. Preston Le Gassick, another guard, is averaging 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists. The sophomore had 16 points in the loss to Southern Wesleyan and missed a three-point shot in the final seconds that would've given Chowan the lead and likely the win. Finally, redshirt senior forward RJ Wilson is averaging a double-double for the Hawks this season. The 6-foot-7 Raleigh, N.C. native is averaging 13.2 points and 10.2 rebounds while also dishing 3.0 assists per game out of the post. The Hawks are coached by Rob Burke who is in his third season with the program, holding a 27-35 record with Chowan and a 32-43 overall record after spending one season as the interim head coach at Division I UNC Wilmington in 2019-20.