WISE, Va. (Feb. 9) - The Wheeling Jesuit University men's basketball team won its third game in a row with a 79-72 win at UVa-Wise Saturday evening inside the Prior Center.

The victory improves the Cardinals to 5-17 overall, 4-12 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) standings. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers fall to an identical 4-12 in league play, 7-15 overall this season.

Freshman guard Steve Cannady (Bowie, Md./St. Vincent Palotti) led four players in double figures with 20 points on 7-of-15 (46 percent) shooting from the field. Freshman forward Tariq Woody (Canton, Mich./Novi) registered his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, freshman guard Franck Kamgain (Kansas City, Mo./DME Sports Academy) added 19 points and six steals, and senior guard Miguel Rodriguez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) chipped in 12 points in the win.

UVa-Wise controlled the tempo early in the game and established a 24-11 lead with 10:43 left in the first half. The Cavaliers led by as many as 14, 29-15, before Wheeling Jesuit began to chip away at the deficit. A jump shot by junior Jeremiah April (Phoenix, Ariz./Joy Christian) in the final minute drew the Cardinals within six, but Wise managed to take a 39-32 advantage into halftime.

Wheeling Jesuit quickly knotted the score up behind a trio of Cannady three pointers to tie the score at 46-46 with 16:03 to play in the game. UVa-Wise responded with three consecutive baskets of its own to re-establish a 52-46 lead and eventually rebuilt its advantage to nine, 59-50, with 11:50 left on the clock.

The Cardinals took command of the game with its best stretch of the afternoon, a 23-5 run, to put the team ahead 73-64 with just under four minutes remaining in the contest. The Cardinals made 6-of-9 from the field, knocked down each of its nine free-throw attempts, and limited the Cavaliers to 2-of-11 from the floor during the eight-minute run.

Wise brought the score back to within one possession at 75-72 with just under a minute to play in the game. The Cardinals tightened up defensively and held the Cavaliers scoreless on two shot attempts with two turnovers to seal the team's third-straight win.

The Cardinals shot 26 of 53 (49 percent) from the field and held a 36-31 edge on the glass.

Cameron Whiteside led Wise with 15 points in the loss.

Wheeling Jesuit hits the road once again on Wednesday, February 14 to take on Charleston for a MEC contest at 7:30 p.m.