INSTITUTE, W.Va. (Dec. 11) – The Cardinals nearly overcame a second half double-digit deficit in their 97-92 loss at West Virginia State Wednesday evening in a Mountain East Conference (MEC) game inside the Walter Johnson Arena.
 
The Wheeling University men's basketball team drops to 3-2 in MEC play, 6-3 overall. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets improve to identical marks of 6-2 overall, 3-2 in league play.
 
Junior guard Jarett Haines (Bronx, N.Y./New Rochelle) led the team with a game-high and season-high 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting. Sophomore forward Emmanuel Ansong (Bordentown, N.J./Canterbury School) added 15 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Jay Gentry (Milwaukee, Wisc./Brown Deer) and junior guard Jordan Reid (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) chipped in 14 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Wheeling got off to a fast start and established a 9-2 lead through two minutes. After West Virginia State sliced the lead to two, the Cardinals established their biggest lead of the first half at 21-10 with 11:55 left in the first half.
 
The Yellow Jackets rallied with 13-unanswered points to quickly take a 23-21 lead with 9:30 remaining until halftime. Both teams traded the lead multiple times, before a West Virginia State trey in the final 10 seconds of the period sent the game into halftime tied at 43-43.
 
Both teams traded blows in a highly entertaining second half. West Virginia State raced out to a 54-45 lead less than two minutes into the period and had a 63-52 lead with 15:49 left in the game. 
 
Wheeling answered back with 10-unanswered to draw back within one point, before State scored 10-unanswered of its own to reestablish a 73-62 lead with 12:14 to play in the contest.
 
The Cardinals managed to bring the game all the back to even at 84-84 with 5:33 remaining on the clock on a Gentry basket-and-one. West Virginia State re-took the lead on a three pointer and maintained the lead to the final horn. Wheeling had a a pair of opportunities to even the score up in the final 30 seconds, but came up short on both attempts, allowing the Yellow Jackets to escape with the narrow win. 
 
Both teams shot over 50 percent from the field. The Cardinals finished 32-of 55 (58 percent), while the Yellow Jackets were 35-of-67 (52 percent).
 
Wheeling committed 19 turnovers against West Virginia State's full-court pressure and only forced nine by the Yellow Jackets. State was credited with 15 steals in the win.

The 97 points by the Yellow Jackets is the most allowed in a single-game this season by Wheeling. The Cardinals entered the night leading the MEC and eighth in Division II with only 62.6 points allowed per game and had not allowed more than 80 points in any game this season.
 
Wheeling returns home for the first time in five games on Saturday, December 14 when they welcome Charleston for a MEC contest around 4 p.m.