WHEELING, W.Va. (March 2) – The Wheeling Jesuit University men's basketball team fell to No. 7 West Liberty 96-85 on Senior Day at the McDonough Center.
The Cardinals drop to 8-19 overall, 7-14 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Wheeling Jesuit has earned the No. 9 seed in the upcoming MEC Tournament in Wheeling this week and will play No. 8 seed West Virginia Wesleyan in an opening round game on Wednesday, March 6 at 8:15 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Hilltoppers close the regular-season at 19-2 in conference play, 23-3 overall with the win.
Five Cardinals reached double-digits in scoring. Freshman forward Tariq Woody (Canton, Mich./Novi) registered a double-double with a team-high 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Freshman forward Emmanuel Ansong (Bordentown, N.J./Canterbury School) also recorded a double-double by posting 13 points and 10 boards. Freshman guard Franck Kamgain (Kansas City, Mo./DME Sports Academy) converted a game-high three treys on his way to 16 points.
Wheeling Jesuit jumped out to a 13-5 lead in the first three minutes of the game after knocking down back-to-back three-pointers. West Liberty answered with a 18-9 run over the next eight minutes that put them up by one, 23-22. The final nine minutes of the first half was hard fought by both sides, but it was the Hilltoppers that were able to get the edge going into the half, 43-37.
The Cardinals could not close the gap on West Liberty in the second half, with WLU going up by as much as 22 points with 3:10 remaining in the contest. Senior guard Zack Duffy (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Falls) dished out two assists and split a couple of defenders in the last two minutes as part of a 9-0 run that brought WJU back to within 11 points at the final buzzer.
The Hilltoppers came up with 26 points off of 17 Cardinal turnovers. Wheeling Jesuit for its part converted 17 second chance points 15 offensive rebounds.
WLU's Will Yoakum finished with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting to lead the Hilltoppers.
Duffy and fellow senior Miguel Rodriguez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) were recognized before the opening tip for their contributions to the Wheeling Jesuit men's basketball program.
Wheeling Jesuit will square off against West Virginia Wesleyan in the first round of the MEC Tournament at the WesBanco Arena. The opening round clash is scheduled for Wednesday, March 6 at 8:15 p.m.
