Cavs Surge Past Tornado in Second Half for Victory

January 14, 2006
Boxscore

Wise, Va. – A tale of two halves was the case in the Appalachian Athletic Conference men’s basketball game Saturday. King College shot almost 58-percent in the first half for a 15-point halftime lead only to see UVa-Wise hit 67-percent in the second stanza for the 83-75 comeback victory.

UVa-Wise completed the perfect 2-0 week to improve to 7-12 on the season and 3-7 in AAC play. King College drops to 7-13 and 3-7 in the league.

After setting career highs in points and rebounds Tuesday night, Zydrunas Rackauskas posted personal bests again for the Cavs. The freshman made six of 11 attempts and nine of 14 foul shots for 22 points to go with 17 rebounds. Jarred Soles scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half while Parker Gemmell hit for all 16 of his tallies in the second stanza as well. Seth Gibson added 10 points.

Guard Nick Pasqua made eight of 11 from the floor for 23 points while Derek Linkous and RuShaun Reeves added 16 and 15 points. Jonathan Woodard had 10 tallies.

Trailing 44-29 at the half, UVa-Wise dominated the opening 5:15 of the second half by a 19-6 margin to take the score to 50-48 on a Gemmell three-pointer. Three minutes later, Carlos Goodwyn put in a driving layup for the home team’s first lead of the game, 54-53, at 12:21.

After two ties in the next two minutes, Justin Sorensen started a 7-0 spurt, 64-57, for the Cavs where UVa-Wise would not relinquish the lead again. King was able to pull to within four points, 77-73, with 30 seconds left on a three-point play by Pasqua. The Cavs made four of four free throws and a final Gemmell layup in the last 25 seconds for the 83-75 win.

King led 22-18 with 8:17 in the first half. The Tornado increased the margin to as many as 17 points two times before taking a 44-29 lead into intermission.

The Cavs will return home on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. game against Montreat College.