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mbb hay drive wise
Haywood Highsmith drives for two of his 16 points vs. UVa-Wise
87
UVa-Wise WISE 3-20/1-16 MEC
92
Winner Wheeling Jesuit WJU-M 23-1/16-1 MEC
UVa-Wise WISE
3-20/1-16 MEC
87
Final
92
Wheeling Jesuit WJU-M
23-1/16-1 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
UVa-Wise WISE 24 63 87
Wheeling Jesuit WJU-M 42 50 92

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Chris Myers

Cardinals Hold on to Defeat Cavaliers, Stay Atop MEC

WHEELING, W.Va. – The No. 2-ranked Wheeling Jesuit men's basketball team fended off a hard-charging University of Virginia's College at Wise squad and held on for a 92-87 victory Thursday night.
 
After an opening second-half Haywood Highsmith bucket, the Cardinals (23-1) held a 20-point, 44-24, lead on the Cavaliers (3-20). The visitors drained eight second-half 3-pointers and pushed WJU to its limit, before Eric Siefert sunk a key trey with 1:33 to turn the time one last time in the home team's favor.
 
"We were fortunate to win the game," said Cardinals head coach Danny Sancomb. "We weren't ready in the second half and didn't do a good job defensively. We were happy we won."
 
With the victory, WJU ran its winning streak to 18 games. The Cardinals, now 16-1 in league play, kept its one-game lead over West Liberty for first place in the Mountain East Conference.
 
Siefert totaled his fourth 20-point effort night with 21 points on 7 of 16 attempts from the field and 4 for 8 behind the arc.
 
Justin Fritts downed 5 of 6 treys for 17 points and handed out five assists. Highsmith contributed 16 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.
 
Freshman Malik Grandy produced his season-high with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
 
"Grandy gave us great minutes tonight off the bench," Sancomb pointed out.
 
Kyle Ritz and Matt Stewart added 11 and nine points from the inside.
 
The Cavaliers saw three players hit for 20-plus points with Philip Owens II, Matt Day and Dimitri Sousa at 26, 24 and 20 points, respectively.
 
Tied at 12, WJU broke open the game with an 11-0 run out of the first media timeout behind 3-pointers by Fritts, Siefert and a second by Fritts for a 23-12 advantage at 11:21 in the first half. Grandy downed a triple with 1:23 left for a 42-24 intermission tally.
 
After the second-half opening Highsmith bucket, UVa-Wise went on its 16-3 run to pull with seven points, 47-40, at 15:21.
The Cardinals answered and pushed the margin back to 17 points, 69-52, following a Stewart jumper in the paint with 7:03 remaining.
 
The Cavaliers, though, were not done. The visitors went on an 18-6 run and trailed 75-70 at 3:51 on the clock. UVa-Wise continued its charge as Owens downed his third trey of the half to make it an 80-78 game at 1:50.
 
Siefert connected on his own 3-pointer on the next WJU trip down the floor and turned the tide in his team's favor for good. The Cardinals made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 58 seconds and sealed a 92-87 victory.
 
WJU has a day off, before it hosts Concord University on Saturday, Feb. 13, in a 4 p.m. contest.

 
-GoCards-
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