WISE, Va. - It took an extra period, but the Urbana men's basketball team finally pulled out a win with a 91-87 triumph over UVa-Wise Saturday at the Prior Center.
Urbana (2-23, 1-19) picked up its first conference win and snapped a dismal 21-game losing streak. UVa-Wise dropped to 3-23 and 1-19 in league play.
Six Blue Knights poured in double-digit points, led by shooting guard
Carlas Jackson's career-high seven 3-pointers. His trey with 29 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 76-76 to force the game to overtime.
Jackson finished with a team-high 24 points and seven rebounds, while shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc.
Austin Adams and
Colin Curran each scored 13 points,
Aarmanni Garnett and
Jahmere Howze both tallied 11, and
Dimitri Abner chipped in with 10.
As a team, UU shot 48 percent from the floor and hit 12 of 28 (43 percent) three-point attempts. The Blue Knights only missed two shots at the free-throw line where they finished 17 of 19.
Urbana worked its way to a halftime advantage for the eighth time this season after taking a 41-37 lead into the break.
UU then gained its largest lead of six points when Jackson's three at the 17:28 mark in the second half put the Blue Knights ahead 51-46.Â
But the Cavs finally made their move, outscoring the Blue and Grey 18-4 over the next five-plus minutes to take a nine-point lead, 64-55. From then on, UU never led but kept the deficit to single digits, and twice, the Blue Knights got within a point. Garnett's free throws made it 67-66 Wise with 5:30 left, but the Cavs kept their stamp on the lead and moved back ahead by five on a 3-pointer.
The Urbana defense responded by shutting down the Cavs over the final two minutes of regulation. Abner's layup with 1:21 left cut the deficit to three, which set up Jackon's game-tying three.
The Blue Knights outpaced the Cavs 15-11 in OT, thanks to a perfect 4-of-4 shooting at the free throw line during the final minute. Jackson scored five points and Curran added four points in the extra five-minute period. It was the second time this season Urbana played in overtime, as UU lost to Davis & Elkins near the beginning of the year in extra time.
The Blue Knights will return to action next Thursday with another road contest against No. 3 West Liberty.
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