BLUEFIELD, Va.— Tied near the top of the conference standings entering the evening, the Montreat men's basketball team faced the Bluefield University Rams in a crucial Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) matchup Wednesday night. Using effective offense and a first-half edge, the Cavaliers came away with a vital 96-90 triumph on the road to improve to 13-5 (11-4 AAC) on the season.
 
Montreat converted five of its first eight attempts from the field, including four points from both JaJa Davis and Noah Dunn as the Cavaliers scored 13 of the initial 16 points of the game. Over the 4:00 span, the Cavs held Bluefield to just 1-of-6 shooting to build their double-digit advantage.
 
The Cavaliers continued to shoot impressively throughout the first half, starting 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) overall and 3-of-6 from three. Dunn and Davis powered Montreat in the opening frame by converting chance after chance. The duo scored 14 straight points for the visitors (10 from Dunn, four from Davis) as the team grew its lead to as many as 15 (41-26).
 
Defense and aggression at the rim helped the Cavaliers hold the Rams to 32.4 percent shooting from the field (11-34 FG) and 31.6 percent from deep (6-19 FG). Montreat finished the first half with 16 makes on 30 shots (53.3 percent) and an efficient 50.0 percent performance (5-10) from behind the arc to head into the intermission up 44-32.
 
"We really set the tone early and did a good job on the defensive end. That has been a focus for us," said head coach Garrett Jones.
 
In the first period, Dunn led all scorers with 16 points, Davis followed with nine points and a game-high six boards at the time and Jaylan Shelton added seven points. Seven different Cavaliers contributed on the scoresheet in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Bluefield (11-7, 10-5 AAC) immediately trimmed its deficit to single digits with a pair of baskets at the beginning of the second before Dunn drilled a triple to push the advantage back to 11 (47-36). Both teams traded a plethora of buckets over the next few minutes of the latter frame as the squads combined for 41 points in only 5:49 of gameplay.
 
After Montreat's edge bounced between 10 and 15 points for the better part of the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Rams cut the difference to seven with 8:24 remaining in regulation, and then the hosts made it a six-point contest (75-69) with 7:44 to go.
 
The Cavaliers then utilized a quick 8-2 stretch to extend their lead back to 12 and regain control of momentum late. Though BU made a run to tighten the gap, Montreat held on for its crucial league win. Dunn added 15 points in the second half to end his night with a game-best 31 points on 10-of-21 shooting, including an outstanding 7-of-10 from deep. Davis concluded with his nine points, while Jamiel Wright contributed 13 points with four makes on five field goals. Djongo-Alan Tchatchouang came off the bench to produce a season-high 12 points (4-4 FG) to round out the Cavs in double-digits in scoring. Mike Flenory scored nine, grabbed seven boards, notched five assists and tallied four steals. Tyler Rodrigue tied for the game-high with eight rebounds.
 
"That was a great team win," mentioned Jones. "Bluefield has a great team, so to find a way to win on the road is a great accomplishment for our program and our guys."
 
Overall, despite being outscored by the Rams 58-52 in the second half, effective shooting powered Montreat to the six-point victory. The Cavaliers connected on 50.8 percent (32-63 FG) of their attempts and drained 14 of 30 shots from three (46.7 percent).
 
Men's basketball returns home in its next contest- a conference matchup against Tennessee Wesleyan University on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.