Box Score
 
WHEELING, W.Va. – The Wheeling Jesuit men's hoops team needed a win to rebound from a tough overtime loss to rival West Liberty in front of a packed house on Thursday, and to put the brakes on a five-game skid. Notre Dame College made the Cardinals work for it, but WJU did just that, taking a 89-83 victory over the Falcons on Saturday in the McDonough Center.
 
Coach Danny Sancomb's Cardinals snapped the losing streak, and now sit at 7-8 overall, and 5-7 in Mountain East play.
 
"I thought the last five minutes we thought we could put it on cruise control and they kept playing hard," said WJU head coach Danny Sancomb. "I think we were just tight. I was tight, they were tight… we were wound up because we knew we needed to win today. We needed to win. Sometimes, what winning does is it just gives you that confidence you need to become a better basketball team. Hopefully we can build on this and get on a run, because we need to."
 
Leading the way for the Cardinals on the stat sheet was Senior Andre Harris who had 23 points. Close behind was Eric Siefert who put in 21 points shooting 6-10 from the field.
 
Having perhaps his biggest game in a Cardinal jersey was freshman Kyle Ritz out of Cambridge, Ohio who put in 17 points, but was an absolute monster on the boards, collecting 19 rebounds, and establishing himself as one of the most active and omnipresent players on the floor.
 
The Cardinals and Falcons battled neck and neck in the first half, with both teams shooting exactly 50% from the floor. A put back on a missed shot by WJU's Tim Goff at the buzzer put the Cards up 45-40 at the break. Ritz was already out to 12 rebounds at the break as well.
 
The Cardinals heated up after the break hot and led by as many as 16 early in the second half. As coach Sancomb alluded to, the Falcons weren't going to just go away quietly however. NDC's Tyree Gaiter led all scorers with a 30-point performance, 19 of which came in the second half to put pull within six at the final buzzer.
 
The Cardinals return to the court on Thursday when Urbana University comes calling to the McDonough Center. West Virginia State comes to town on Saturday to cap off the Cardinals six game home stand.