Men's Basketball 3/10/2018 7:09:00 PM Chris Myers

Cardinals Fail to Convert Late, Edged by Golden Rams in Atlantic Region 1st Round

Box Score PETERSBURG, Va. – The Cardinals were the tougher team Saturday except at the charity stripe. After leading for most of the contest, Wheeling Jesuit failed to convert late and were edged by West Chester, 82-77, in the NCAA Atlantic Regional Men's Basketball First Round.

Leading by as many as 10 points early in the second half, the Cardinals (26-6) had the tide turned in a Golden Rams (27-3) 18-2 run midway through the second half and trailed 62-55 at the 10:49 mark. WJU regained the lead on a Haywood Highsmith putback and pair of free throws. West Chester, though, took advantage of a key travel call on WJU defensive rebound and saw Matt Penecale bank home a 3-pointer as the time clock expired with 19 seconds as the final game-deciding straw.

"It was a hard-fought game, but we just came up a little bit short. We really were the more physical team, but they battled us. We just had a lot of self-inflicted wounds we could not overcome, especially missing 18 free throws not including a couple 1-and-1 trips when you play competitive teams," explained Danny Sancomb, WJU head coach. "They made some shot today and shot the ball well from 3-point range and did enough defensively to keep us at bay."

Drake Goddard

The end of the 2017-18 WJU campaign was the final time for the century win mark senior trio of Highsmith, Pat Moseh and Drake Goddard. The three Cardinals stalwarts posted 100 wins in four seasons to go with one Mountain East Conference Regular Season, one MEC Tournament title, a No. 1 in the nation ranking, three-straight Atlantic Region appearances, including hosting the 2016 edition and last year's Region Final.

"This team of all my 11 teams here at WJU improved the most (over the season). It is just disappointing for Pat, Drake and Haywood (to go out this way)," added Sancomb. "They are a special group and I can't emphasize enough. They won 21 games their freshman year, a No. 1 ranking and 28 wins the next, 25 wins and the Region Final last year and 26 wins and the MEC Tournament title this year. They helped take this program to a different level. I felt we were good enough to win a national title, but you need some breaks, but we fell short of the goal. But, I couldn't be prouder."

Highsmith, of course, recorded one last double-double in the contest. He made 18 of 24 from the foul line as part of his 25-point and 13-rebound effort. The senior and five blocks, three steals and two assists. Haywood finishes as WJU's second all-time leading scorer with 1,953 points and over 1200-plus rebounds.

"WJU gave me so much support on the long journey and I am very thankful and blessed to have been a part of this program over my career," stated Highsmith.

Goddard drained two more 3-pointers and finished with six points to go with three rebounds and two assists.

"I felt I grown in myself as a leader and felt we (the seniors) did a good bringing the together and I am proud how the team fought through injuries and adversity this year," added Goddard.

Preston Boswell

Preston Boswell had a solid game of 6 for 12 from the floor with a pair of treys and 6 of 7 from the foul line for 20 points. He also swiped four balls from West Chester.

Brent Pegram added nine points and Ryan Cooper seven tallies and five caroms.

Jackson Hyland led the West Chester scorers with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

The game story, though, was the Cardinals non-charity stripe woes. After WJU dropped 11 of 14 first-half attempts through the net, it went a frigid 19 of 34 in the second 20 minutes.

WJU did force West Chester into 19 turnovers, but were outrebounded 45-41.

After falling behind 7-3 in the opening minutes, WJU put together an 8-0 spurt to go ahead 11-7 on a Boswell triple and then a 3-point play. The Cardinals made it a total of a 14-2 run to push the score to 17-9 off two more Boswell layups at 11:49.

WJU enjoyed what would be its largest lead following a Chris Greene tip in and then a right corner 3-pointer to make it 28-17 with 7:20 left in the first half. West Chester rebounded for the next nine points in the ensuing 2:40 to make it a one-point margin, 28-27, before WJU took the 41-36 lead into half.

WJU added to its lead with five of the first seven points of the opening 52 seconds to make it 46-38. A Boswell layup gave the Cardinals its final double figure advantage, 61-51, at 16:51. With 53-44 showing on the scoreboard, the Golden Rams ran off an 18-2 run over five minutes and take the lead 62-55.

A Brendan Hoban 3-pointer pulled WJU back to within a point, 62-61, before Highsmith gave the squad its final lead of 67-65 with 6:27 on the clock. West Chester's Frank Rowkins downed a triple on the next possession to retake the lead, 68-67.

WJU did pull to within a point, 72-71, off a Boswell trey at 4:21 and two more times to with two points, 75-73 and 77-75, but could not regain the advantage.

-GoCards-

Print Friendly Version