Box Score
WISE, Va. – The Wheeling Jesuit men's basketball team ground out a 73-70 victory on the road against new Mountain East Conference foe, the Cavaliers of Virginia-Wise on Thursday night.
The win marks the fifth in a row for the Cardinals, and puts them at 11-8 (9-7 MEC) in the middle of a three-game road stretch, and gives them momentum headed into the final three weeks of the season.
Eric Siefert had yet another solid night, leading all scorers with 20 points and adding five assists, despite going 0-6 on threes. Siefert didn't sit a minute of the game, playing all 40 to add to his season average that makes him the #1 player in the country for minutes played.
Justin Fritts followed closely behind with 16 points, while freshman
Kyle Ritz had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Matt Stewart put in 10 points for the Cardinals, while
Andre Harris added to his now-1000 point career with nine.
"That was a very tough win. They defended us well, especially in the first half," said WJU head coach Danny Sancomb. "Our toughness was the diff, erence tonight. We made the plays we needed to, and made the tough shots we needed to win."
The game was back and forth early on, and the Cardinals found themselves down by four as time wound down in the first half until Fritts hit one of his two threes on the night to pull WJU within on at the break, giving them a boost of momentum heading into the locker room.
In the second half, the Cardinals were again neck-and-neck with the Cavaliers until
Justin Fritts hit his other three on the night with 9:16 left to put WJU up by 5, and they would never look back.
"We've got to be ready to play at the start of the game, and have to execute game plan," added Sancomb. "We had some trouble tonight, but the guys were able to hang tough to get the win."
The Cardinals return to the court on Saturday to finish off their road-stand against Concord before returning home to face Bluefield State College in a non-conference tussle on Monday, February 10
th at 7:30 PM.
