“I try to do a little bit of everything,” said the swing man who plays a little bit of every position for Coach Pat Douglass.
Wise, whose three-pointer with 14:15 left in the game broke a 35-35 deadlock and put UCI ahead for good, led the break, triggered the half-court offense from the high post, dribble penetrated around confused defenders when he had to and banged bodies in the paint to help UCI break a three-game losing streak.
He finished with just one of UCI’s 11 turnovers.
“A lot of people take me for granted, still to this day,” Wise, a 6-foot-5 tweener, said. “But that works for me. A lot of people still don’t believe in me, but my family, my coaches and my teammates believe in me and that’s all that matters.”
Add to that list the UCI rooters, who rose in unison with UCI holding the ball in the final minute, to give the Anteaters a rare standing ovation.
“It was a big win, because of the three-game losing streak,” said Wise, who made seven of 15 field-goal tries and five of eight foul shots, the latter all during the first 20 minutes.
“And, we were at home, so we wanted to take care of home-court advantage.”
Wise took care of distribution for Hunter, a catalytic guard who suffered a lower-back injury with 7:30 left in the first half. Hunter was obviously affected in brief second-half minutes, until he recovered well enough to produce seven points in the final 3:22 to help fend off yet another 49ers surge.
Hunter, who was one for eight from the field to that point, netted a three-pointer from the top of the key to give UCI a 59-54 advantage with 3:22 left.
On the subsequent possession, he stole the ball and went the distance for a layin that might have put the Black and Blue Series rivals away.
