Boxscore
Bluefield, Va. - UVa-Wise showed what type of men's basketball team it is Friday night in the Appalachian Athletic Conference semifinals. The Highland Cavaliers showed its cohesiveness and used a strong early second half effort before holding onto an 86-80 upset of the Ramblin' Rams of Bluefield College to move into the AAC Championship.

After leading 40-39 at half, the Highland Cavaliers (16-12) put together solid minutes to open an 11-point lead, 70-59, midway through the second 20 minutes. The Rams (16-15) made a run in the final seven minutes and pulled to within two points, 82-80, but Norris Gaskins and Adam Hood connected on all four foul shots in the final 13.1 seconds to seal the 86-80 victory.

UVa-Wise will move on to face Union College, who defeated Reinhardt College, 70-67, in the AAC Championship set for Monday night, March 1^st starting at 7:30 p.m. in Barbourville, Ky.

The Cavs saw all five starters reach double figures highlighted by a career-high 18 points on six of nine shooting and six of seven from the foul line by Gaskins. The sophomore added seven rebounds. Pance Kecev hit seven of 14 tries from the floor including four of nine triples for his own 18-point night while dishing out three assists. Hood added four three-pointers and 15 points to go with seven assists and five rebounds. Travis Berry chipped in 14 points and Kevin Perry had 10 points and eight boards. Josh Jordan netted eight points off the bench.

Omar Reed led all scorers with 31 points and 17 rebounds for Bluefield.