WHEELING, W.Va. (Feb. 27) – The Wheeling Jesuit University men's basketball team's rally came up short in a 95-93 loss to Urbana Wednesday evening in a Mountain East Conference (MEC) game inside the McDonough Center.
 
The Cardinals drop to 8-19 overall, 7-14 in the league standings. Despite the loss, WJU has clinched a berth into the upcoming MEC Tournament with UVa-Wise's loss to Charleston. Meanwhile, Urbana improves to 4-17 in the MEC, 6-19 overall this season. 
 
Freshman forward DeAndre Robinson (Monroeville, Ala./Monroe County) nearly finished with a triple-double, posting 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. Freshman guard Steve Cannady (Bowie, Md./St. Vincent Palotti) led the team with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting with six assists. Classmate Franck Kamgain (Kansas City, Mo./DME Sports Academy) posted 22 points, while freshman Emmanuel Ansong (Bordentown, N.J./Canterbury School) added 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.
 
Wheeling Jesuit scored the game's first points and held an 8-7 lead with 17:33 left in the game, but the Blue Knights controlled the pace of first half. Urbana established a lead of 25-12 at the 11:45-mark and enjoyed a 52-36 advantage at halftime.
 
Urbana pushed its lead to 18, 60-44, less than four minutes into the second half when the Cardinals made a push. WJU posted 13-unanswered points, including consecutive dunks by Ansong that sparked life into the McDonough Center crowd and made the score 60-55 with 13:13 left in the game.
 
Urbana weathered the storm and rebuilt its lead to nine, 73-62, with 9:47 to play. The Cardinals made a second push, out-scoring the Blue Knights 23-12 over the ensuing six minutes to knot the game up at 85-85 with 3:44 remaining in the game. The Blue Knights re-took the lead once again and held off the Cardinals down the stretch. 
 
Kamgain knocked down a three in the closing seconds to make the score 94-93. Urbana made one of two at the line on the other end of the court; missing the back-end shot to allow the clock to expire.
 
The Cardinals wrap-up the regular-season on Saturday, March 2 when they welcome Ohio County rival West Liberty to the McDonough Center at 4 p.m.