URBANA, Ohio (Feb. 26) – The Cardinals nearly erased an 18-point deficit, but ran out of time in a 74-67 setback at Urbana Wednesday night in a Mountain East Conference (MEC) contest.
 
The Cardinals drop to 14-11 overall, 11-10 in the MEC standings. Despite the loss, Wheeling clinched the No. 5 seed in the MEC Tournament with losses by Glenville State and West Virginia Wesleyan tonight. Meanwhile, Urbana keeps its slim hopes for a playoff bid alive and improve to 6-15 in league play, 7-20 overall this season.
 
Junior guard Jarett Haines led Wheeling with 18 points, four rebounds and four assists in the loss. Sophomore forward Emmanuel Ansong (Bordentown, N.J./Canterbury School) and junior guard Jordan Reid (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
 
Urbana held Wheeling to four points through the first six minutes of the game and took a 11-4 lead into the first media timeout. The Cardinals managed to slice the deficit down to four at 15-11 following a trey by senior center Jeremiah April (Phoenix, Ariz./Joy Christian) with 12:10 to play in the first half, but Urbana quickly recovered. The Blue Knights out-scored Wheeling 25-14 over the final 12 minutes of the half to take a 40-25 lead into the locker rooms.
 
Urbana maintained the lead and appeared to be on its way to an easy victory when it took a game-high 18-point lead, 53-35, with 11:39 left in the game. Wheeling went on to out-score Urbana 30-14 over the next 10 minutes of the game to draw within two, 67-65, with 55 seconds remaining on the clock. Wheeling shot 8-of-12 from the field and converted 14-of-18 at the free-throw line during the stretch. They also limited the Blue Knights to only seven shot attempts with six turnovers.
 
Urbana only allowed a Reid layup in the final 20 seconds and knocked down a trio of free throws to deny the Cardinals the comeback bid.
 
The Cardinals had trouble on the glass and were out-rebounded 39-to-31. Urbana finished with 15 offensive rebounds and held Wheeling to just 24 points in the paint.
 
Mike Ryan led Urbana with 16 points in the win.
 
The Cardinals will look to finish the season strong when they travel to No. 13 West Liberty on Saturday, February 29 for the regular-season finale at 4 p.m.