WHEELING, W.Va. (Jan. 10) - The Cardinals were unable to overcome an eight-point halftime deficit in their 91-74 loss to Charleston Thursday night at the McDonough Center.

The Wheeling Jesuit University men's basketball team drops to 1-12 overall, 0-7 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles improve to 4-3 in conference play, 9-4 overall this season.

Freshman guard Steve Cannady (Bowie, Md./St. Vincent Palotti) established a new season-high with 20 points on 8-of-13 (62 percent) shooting from the field. He also dished out a team-high five assists. Freshman forward Emmanuel Ansong (Bordentown, N.J./Canterbury School) finished with 16 points and eight rebounds in his first appearance since the season-opening game versus Gannon. Classmate DeAndre Robinson (Monroeville, Ala./Monroe County) added 16 points of his own on 7-of-8 shooting from the field.

Charleston opened up a double-digit lead seven minutes in to the game and led by as many as 15, 34-19, with 8:57 to play in the first half. WJU trailed 40-27 at the three-minute mark, before a 10-5 spurt to close the half pulled the Cardinals within eight, 45-37, entering halftime.

Wheeling Jesuit got as close as six, 49-43, on a basket by junior center Jeremiah April (Phoenix, Ariz./Joy Christian) with 17:33 left in the game. The Golden Eagles went on to out-score the Cardinals 21-7 over the ensuing eight minutes to open up a 70-50 advantage and held a comfortable lead throughout the remainder of the contest.

Charleston enjoyed a 36-22 edge on the glass and shot 37 of 57 (65 percent) from the field, compared to the 28 of 60 (47 percent) performance posted by the Cardinals.

Charleston guard Drew Rackley led four players in double-figures with a game-high 37 points on 15 of 19 from the field, including 5-of-6 from long range, with six rebounds and six assists.

The Cardinals will travel to Institute, West Virginia on Saturday, January 12 for a MEC clash with West Virginia State at 4 p.m.