WHEELING, W.Va. (Dec. 14) – An early deficit was too much to overcome for the Cardinals in a 95-71 loss to Charleston Saturday evening inside the McDonough Center.
 
The Wheeling University men's basketball team falls to 6-4 overall, 3-3 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Meanwhile, the Golden Eagles improve to 4-2 in league play, 8-2 overall this season.
 
Junior guard Jordan Reid (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) led the team with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Both junior guard Jarett Haines (Bronx, N.Y./New Rochelle) and freshman forward John Korte (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) chipped in 12 points, apiece.
 
Charleston was the aggressor early in the game and opening up a 21-6 lead at the 12:34-mark of the first half. The Golden Eagles led by at least 12 and as many as 20 to close out the half, and eventually took a 47-29 lead into the intermission.
 
Charleston maintained a lead of 20 or more for the majority of the first 10 minutes of the second half. A trey by senior Zach Collins (South Riding, Va./Freedom) jumpstarted 12-unanswered points to help Wheeling close the gap to 67-56 with 8:04 left in the game.
 
The Cardinals were unable to get any closer and a slew of three pointers down the stretch by the Golden Eagles allowed them to re-build their lead to over 20 points by the final horn.
 
Wheeling limited turnovers and only committed seven in the game, but were out-rebounded 34-to-19 by Charleston. Charleston converted 15 second-chance points and did not allow any to the Cardinals.
 
Seven of the eight players that played in the game for UC scored in double-figures. The Golden Eagles shot 37-of-57 (65 percent) from the field, compared to the 25-of-51 (49 percent) posted by Wheeling.
 
UC was led by Seth O'Neal, who finished with 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
 
Wheeling will have a significant amount of time off for the holidays. The Cardinals will not play again until Wednesday, January 8 when it travels to the Waco Center to take on Glenville State. The tip is set for 7:30 p.m.