Cavs Men’s Hoops Ends 2005 by Beating Bears

December 31, 2005
Boxscore

Pikeville, Ky – The Cavs finished the 2005 men’s basketball docket on a big positive note Saturday afternoon. UVa-Wise took control early and trailed for only 30 seconds on its way to a sound 81-69 victory over NAIA Division I Pikeville College.

In the first game in three weeks for the team, the Cavs victory snapped a seven-game losing streak to improve to 5-10 on the year. The Bears see their mark go to an identical 5-10 mark.

Parker Gemmell (Bristol, VA) paces Uva-Wise with 23 points and three triples as one of four players in double figures. Jarred Soles had a solid outing with 18 points on four of seven shooting and five assists. Zydrunas Rackauskas chipped in 15 tallies from the inside and tied Gemmell with a team-high seven rebounds. Joey Blackwell (Kingsport, TN) rounded out the double digit scorers with 13 points and six assists. As a team, the Cavs shot 51.1% to Pikeville’s 36.4% and outrebounded their opponent 35-33.

Gemmell started the game with a three-pointer but Pikeville answered with two baskets to edge ahead 4-3. The Bears lead would last 30 seconds before the Cavs went on a 10-2 run to go ahead 13-6 capped by a Rackauskas layup at 14:31.

The UVa-Wise advantage grew to 13 points, 24-11, six minutes later before Pikeville went on their own run to cut the difference to 28-24 with 4:52 in the opening half. The Cavs held on for a 38-32 intermission lead.

Blackwell started the second half with a trey as the team pushed the lead to 45-34 in the opening three minutes. Pikeville could get no closer than seven points, 50-43, at 15:03. Soles hit a three-pointer for Uva-Wise to make the margin 18 points, 66-48. Rackauskas scored a layup for the largest lead of 71-50 with just over five minutes left before the final of 81-69 Cavs.

UVa-Wise will now be off until traveling to Covenant College for a 7:30 p.m. game on January 6th.