GREENVILLE, S.C. — UVA Wise didn't have enough gas to get past a high-rebounding Catawba squad in the South Atlantic Conference Championship game on Sunday night, falling by a score of 101-69.
Catawba (23-7) shot a solid 46.4-percent from the field and a 46.2-percent from the three-point line — led by the shooting efforts of DeAngelo Epps under the bucket and Kris Robinson from beyond the arc.
UVA Wise (19-12) held up a 7-6 lead early on after Calen Lightford rolled in a layup at the 18:00 minute mark. The lead was quickly thwarted after a layup from Peyton Gerald gave Catawba the lead — and that lead never callused for the entirety of the contest. Despite a threat of a comeback from the Cavaliers, the Indians went on a 16-0 run starting at the 11:33 mark that only grew larger.
Conference Tournament MVP Javeon Jones aided the Indians in as much as a 29-point lead by the 1:39 mark of the first half, pushing his squad to a 50-21 score. SAC Player of the Year Brad Dean was held to only nine points in the first half after the Indians secured a 54-28 lead going into halftime.
After the break, Catawba settled in; hitting six three-pointers and 18 field goals. By the 7:05 mark, the Indians had paved their way to a 44-point lead. Dean produced 12 points in the second half while Luke Lawson added 11 for the Cavaliers, but Catawba's deep help from the bench producing 38 points was too tough for UVA Wise to overcome.
The Cavaliers were held to 38.2-percent from the field and 27.6-percent from the three-point line.
All-Tournament team honoree Dean led the Cavs with 21 points and added five rebounds to his stat line. Lawson, another All-Tournament team member, dropped 17 points with three blocked shots and eight rebounds.
Dean's 21 points totaled his overall tournament scoring to 84, tying a SAC conference tournament record set by Denzail Jones of Anderson in 2012.
UVA Wise picked up a solid 35 rebounds, but Catawba won the battle of the boards with 57 of their own.
"I really think they just got into our legs with their pressure and they just beat us up on the offensive end," Coach Blake Mellinger said. "Really from start to finish we just didn't have anything for them. [Catawba] is really, really good."
UVA Wise finished the season with a 19-12 overall record, a 15-game win improvement from the year prior (4-24).
Take a look at the SAC All-Tournament Team below:
2023 SAC Men's Basketball All-Tournament Team
Martez Brown, Lincoln Memorial
Connor Jordan, Tusculum
Bradley Dean, UVA Wise
Luke Lawson, UVA Wise
Peyton Gerald, Catawba
DeAngelo Epps, Catawba
Javeon Jones, Catawba - MVP
