WHEELING, W.Va. (March 6) - The Wheeling Jesuit University men's basketball team posted an impressive 66-48 win over West Virginia Wesleyan in the opening round of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Tournament Wednesday night inside the WesBanco Arena.

The Cardinals, seeded No. 9 in the tournament, improve to 9-20 overall and advance to Friday's quarterfinal round where they will meet rival-West Liberty on the WesBanco Arena court at 6 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats, seeded No. 8, conclude the season at 11-18 overall.

Freshman forward DeAndre Robinson (Monroeville, Ala./Monroe County) recorded a double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds, while senior guard Miguel Rodriguez (Brooklyn, N.Y./Xavier) added 12 points of his own. Freshman forward Tariq Woody (Canton, Mich./Novi) tallied 11 points, while classmate Emmanuel Ansong (Bordentown, N.J./Canterbury School) added 10.

"I think our guys did a great job of executing our game plan on both ends of the floor," Head Coach John Peckinpaugh said post-game. "They are a very good team and they make it tough on you on both ends of the floor with what they do. I am really proud of our guys and how they executed what we really wanted to do today."

The Cardinals opened up a 14-3 lead over the first six minutes of the game behind a hot shooting start. The Cardinals converted five of their first seven attempts, including a three pointer by freshman Jay Gentry (Milwaukee, Wisc./Brown Deer) to cap off the run. Defensively, WJU frustrated the Bobcat shooters and limited WVWC to a 1-for-7 start from the field.

The Bobcats drew within eight, 21-13, with 8:32 left in the first half. The Cardinals went on to score 11-straight points, capped off by a dunk by junior Jeremiah April (Phoenix, Ariz./ Joy Christian), to take a 32-13 lead with 5:19 remaining until halftime. Wesleyan responded with eight-unanswered of its own to pull within 11, but WJU closed out the first half with six-unanswered to take a 38-21 lead into the locker rooms.

Consecutive treys by Rodriguez in the first two minutes of the second half built the lead to 21, 44-23. West Virginia Wesleyan mounted its best run of the game with 12-straight points to pull within nine, 44-35, with 11:35 to play in the game. The Cardinals finished and out-scored the Bobcats 21-13 down the stretch to secure the victory.

The Cardinals shot 27 of 57 (47 percent) from the field and out-rebounded WVWC 41-28 for the game. Meanwhile, the Bobcats were limited to a 17 of 51 (33 percent) showing from the floor.

The 48 points allowed by Wheeling Jesuit was a season-best defensive effort for the Cardinals.

"I feel like our guys came in and were mentally prepared to compete for 40 minutes," Peckinpaugh said. "Even after that stagnant drought early in the second half, I thought we stayed pretty locked in to what we wanted to do with our game plan."

Fred Brondsted led WVWC with 14 points in the loss.

The Cardinals will return to WesBanco Arena on Friday, March 8 to take on top-seeded West Liberty in a quarterfinal game at 6 p.m.