WHEELING, W.Va. (Nov. 20) – Led by a double-double from sophomore forward Emmanuel Ansong (Bordentown, N.J./Canterbury School), the Wheeling University men's basketball team cruised to an 82-52 win over Malone in a non-conference game inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center Wednesday night.
 
The win moves first-year Head Coach Will Ryan's Cardinals to 2-0 overall. Meanwhile, the Pioneers drop to 2-3 this season.
 
Ansong, the reigning Mountain East Conference (MEC) Player of the Week, registered his second double-double in as many games with 23 points and 11 rebounds (four offensive). He shot 10-of-13 (77 percent) from the field and drew a game-high four fouls while getting to the rim.
 
Three other Cardinals scored in double-figures. Junior guard Jordan Reid (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) finished with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, while both sophomore guard Jay Gentry (Milwaukee, Wisc./Brown Deer) and junior guard Jarett Haines each posted 10 points in the win.
 
The Cardinals led wire-to-wire in the victory. Senior center Jeremiah April (Phoenix, Ariz./Joy Christian) set the tone with a trey in the opening two minutes to help fuel a 21-5 lead by the 11:34-mark of the first half.
 
Wheeling built its advantage all the way up to 26, 39-13, on a three pointer by Gentry in the final minute before halftime, before a Pioneer bucket in the paint made the score 39-15 heading into the break.
 
A basket-and-one by Ansong in the first two minutes of the second half pushed the Cardinal lead to 44-17. Malone made a divot in the Wheeling lead with an 8-3 spurt that made the score 45-25 and eventually managed to bring the deficit down to 17, 55-38, with 10:46 remaining on the clock.

The Cardinals did not allow them to get any closer. Wheeling out-scored Malone 19-5 over the next six minutes and led by 25 points or more over the final six minutes of the game to close out the 30-point win and improve to 2-0 this season.
 
Wheeling shot 35-of-62 (57 percent) as a team and finished with 56 points in the paint. The Cardinals forced 19 turnovers, finished with 11 steals and converted for 26 points off of those turnovers. 
 
Sophomore guard Nathan Meriwether (Indianapolis, Ind./Emmerich Manual) finished with game-highs of six assists and three steals in his first-career start at Wheeling.
 
Malone was limited to just 19-of-62 (31 percent) from the field, including a 6-of-28 (21 percent) showing in the first half.
 
The Pioneers were led by Marcus Ernst's 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
 
Wheeling will open MEC play on Saturday, November 23 when they host Notre Dame College. The game, which was originally slated to be played at Notre Dame, will tip around 2 p.m.