BAYAMON, Puerto Rico – The Wheeling Jesuit men's basketball team completed its Puerto Rico trip with a 79-64 victory over Puerto Rico-Piedras Wednesday night. The Cardinals controlled the tempo for the entirety of the game, leading for the full 40 minutes. Four WJU players finished in double-digit scoring, while 10 players scored in the contest.

For the second consecutive night, junior Kyle Ritz led the Cardinal offense with a team high 19 points and six rebounds. Ritz was one of six Cardinals with five or more rebounds, leading to a 44-28 margin in favor of WJU. WJU managed to shoot 46 percent from three-point range, while holding their opponent to 31 percent.

"Our team defense was our backbone again tonight," expressed head coach Danny Sancomb. "Eric (Siefert) and Kyle (Ritz) led the way for us. Matt Stewart gave us quality minutes off the bench. I am happy with our performance."  

WJU began the game on a 5-0 run off of a Pat Moseh layup and free throw, followed by a Ritz layup. The Cardinals maintained their lead throughout the first 20 minutes of play, with their largest lead of the half coming with one minute remaining when Fritts netted a layup to stretch the lead to 17.  

PR-Piedras managed to record a 9-0 run early in the second half, cutting the Cardinal lead to single digits. WJU responded with an impressive 13-0 run and stretched the lead to a game high 21 points.

The Cardinals proved to be too much for PR-Piedras to handle, as they held on to win the contest by a 15-point margin. Ritz recorded 10 of his 19 points in the second half.

The Cardinals received a balanced attack consisting of 17 points and six rebounds each from guards Eric Siefert and Justin Fritts, and 10 points and five rebounds from sophomore Pat Moseh. Matt Stewart finished with five points and six rebounds in his 19 minutes of action off the bench. Haywood Highsmith added three points and five rebounds to the Cardinal totals.

The Cardinals return to action when they host Alderson Broaddus at 3 p.m. on December 31.