WISE —  a gritty 30-point performance from Luke Lawson was the highlight of the night on Wednesday as the Cavaliers got their revenge on Tusculum and took the win by a score of 83-74.
 

The win marks the first win for UVA Wise over Tusculum in the South Atlantic Conference era of the program, and their first win over Tusculum in over 22 years (Dec. 4, 2000, 102-93).

WHAT HAPPENED
UVA Wise and Tusculum were neck-and-neck in the first half with Pioneer-standout Inady Legiste doing most of the talking in the paint. Cavalier Luke Lawson worked the field, dropping five shots from the field to pace the Cavaliers to as much as a seven-point lead by the 10:19 mark. By halftime, Justin Mitchell had led the Pioneer charge featuring back-to-back three-point balls at the 8:51 mark, putting the scores dead even at 41 going into the locker room.

Tusculum jumped to a 52-45 lead at the 17:44 mark after Kobe Funderburk added another three-pointer to the stat line. Despite cutting the lead to two points after a Patrick Shelley jumper and a Bradley Dean three-pointer, the Pioneers would find another seven-point lead with less than 15 minutes to go.

UVA Wise soon found the spark they needed, going on a 13-0 run led by the Dean/Lawson duo. Although Tusculum would get within one point on three separate occasions, a silencing three-pointer from Lawson with 1:56 to go essentially stopped Tusculum in their tracks.

With the win, UVA Wise sits in second place in the Mountain Division of the SAC with a 7-7 (.500) record.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Lawson led the Cavaliers with 30 points featuring a 9-14 showing from the field and a 4-6 showing from the arc. Lawson also added a career-high matching five blocks.

Dean added a double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds in the triumph, while Kervens Yacinthe sank a career-high three three-pointers.

Mitchell finished on the Tusculum side with 21 points, going 8-12 from the field. Legiste put up another double-double (his twelfth of the year) with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

UVA Wise shot a 49.1-percent from the field and a 44-percent from three-point range. Tusculum shot 40.3-percent from the field and 33.3-percent from beyond the arc.

UVA Wise outrebounded Tusculum by a 37-32 margin.

UP NEXT

Next, UVA Wise sticks at home to face the Wingate Bulldogs in conference action on Saturday, Feb. 11 with a 4 PM tipoff.