HARROGATE, TENN. – It was a tale of two halves that led to UVA Wise's (7-8, 3-4 SAC) 94-73 loss at the hands of Lincoln Memorial (10-5, 4-2 SAC) Wednesday night.
The focus going into the contest for the Cavs was LMU senior forward Martez Brown. He entered the game leading the nation in total rebounds (195), rebounds per game (13.9), defensive rebounds per game (10.0) and ranking second nationally in field goal percentage (70.9 percent).
Redshirt sophomore Joe'l Pettiford was fantastic in limiting Brown in the opening half. Brown had just six points and two rebounds in the first half while Pettiford was influential in helping the Cavs to a two-point halftime lead as he had 10 points, four rebounds and one block.
UVA Wise knocked down seven triples in 16 tries in the first half for a percentage of 43.8 from beyond the arc. A last-second three from senior forward Rron Ukaj lifted UVA Wise to a 41-39 lead at the break and sent the Cavs into the locker room oozing with momentum.
The second half was a much different story.
LMU opened up with a few buckets and the Cavs countered to keep the score close at 52-50. Then junior guard Matthew Sells caught fire for the Railsplitters.
The career 39.5 percent three-point shooter nailed a triple to put LMU up 55-50. 23 seconds later, Sells hit another. This time of the pull-up fashion in transition. A minute later he hit one more three that was followed by a dunk by Brown in transition. It took LMU just 2:11 to go on an 11-0 run and go up 63-50.
From there, it was all LMU the rest of the game as the Railsplitters outscored UVA wise 55-32 in the final 20 minutes.
The transfer tandem of juniors Zy'Ever Wingfield and Lav Cvetkovic gave a valiant effort in the scoring department as the Cavs tried to crawl back in the game.
For the fourth time in his career and the third time in the last four games, Wingfield racked up 20 points while adding six rebounds, two steals and a block.
Cvetkovic had 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting and 11 of his points came in the second half.
The Serbian native had made a big impact for UVA Wise in the last five games. He earned his first career start against Chowan on Dec. 18 and has started all four games since. In that stretch, Cvetkovic is averaging 14.6 points while shooting 54 percent from the floor and 45.8 percent from three-point land.
For the first time this season, the Cavs are below the .500 mark at 7-8 overall and 3-4 in SAC play. UVA Wise returns home for a date with the Trojans of Anderson. Tip off from the David J. Prior Convocation Center is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m.
