GAFFNEY, S.C. – In their first road game of the season, the Cavaliers (4-4) fell to Limestone (2-2) in a tight 71-63 loss at the Timken Center.
Right from the jump, UVA Wise found some trouble handling an athletic Saints defense. The Cavs had 18 turnovers in the game and 11 came in the first half.
Despite the Limestone takeaways, UVA wise held a 25-24 lead at the halftime break thanks to an 11-2 run to close the half. Sophomore guard Calen Lightford hit a pair of threes on back-to-back possessions in the final two minutes during the quick streak.
Offense was hard to come by for both teams in the first half. The Cavs entered the locker room shooting 9-for-25 (36 percent) from the floor while Limestone went 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) on the other side.
Going into the second half, UVA Wise took advantage of some foul trouble for Limestone. At the 16:08 mark, redshirt freshman forward Josh Linder picked up his fourth personal foul, forcing him to sit down for almost the entire second half.
Playing in his stead was junior Greg McKay. However, at the 4:57 mark, McKay also picked up his fourth foul. In an effort to avoid McKay's disqualification, head coach Kyle Perry re-entered Linder back into the lineup. Not 15 seconds later, Linder was called for his fifth and disqualifying foul and McKay was back in the game.
With the bigs struggling to defend without fouling, redshirt sophomore forward Joe'l Pettiford had a field day. He was influential in keeping the Cavs close during the second half, finishing the night with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting while contributing six rebounds and a block.
Pettiford has now scored in double figures in consecutive games for the first time this season and in the last three games he's totaled 28 rebounds for the Cavs.
Freshman guard Carmelo Pacheco was outstanding again for UVA Wise. He finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting which included a trio of triples. Not only has the freshman shown maturity for the Cavs to open this year, he's been clutch too.
In a three-minute span Pacheco buried two three pointers and snagged a defensive rebound to give UVA Wise plenty of momentum. One of his threes tied the game at 52-52 with 7:02 to go. After getting the ball on the left wing, Pacheco jabbed to the right and pulled back to drill a contested three over McKay.
Pacheco has now scored in double figures in four of the last five games which includes a career-high 20-point performance Wednesday night against Carolina University. The freshman is shooting 40 percent (18-for-45) from downtown this season.
Down the final stretch, the Cavs went cold shooting from the floor and got outscored by Limestone 13-7 in the closing 2:55.
UVA Wise, against a very athletic Limestone squad, was without one of its best athletes and defenders as junior Zy'Ever Wingfield was sidelined with an injury. Wingfield is averaging 12.8 points and 3.3 rebounds this season but has missed the last two games for the Cavs.
Limestone shot uncharacteristically well in the conference opener for the Saints. Senior guard Zeb Graham ended the game with a career-high 27 points, while adding five rebounds and five assists. He shot 3-for-4 from downtown, contributing to a 9-for-25 (36 percent) night for the Saints.
The blue and gold entered Saturday's showdown shooting just 28.7 percent from beyond the arc and averaging 29.7 three-point field goal attempts per game.
UVA Wise will look to pick up its first conference win at home next Saturday against Newberry. Tip-off is set for Dec. 9 at 4 p.m.
