WHEELING, W.Va. (Jan. 16) – The Wheeling University men's basketball team was dealt a 95-60 loss by No. 21 Fairmont State Saturday afternoon inside the McDonough Center.
 
The Cardinals drop to 0-2 overall, while the Falcons improve to 3-1 on the season.
 
Senior guard Jordan Reid (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) registered a double-double with 21 point and 11 rebounds. Junior guard Jay Gentry (Milwaukee, Wisc./Brown Deer) finished with 15 points, while senior guard Jarett Haines (Bronx, N.Y./New Rochelle) chipped in 14 in the loss.
 
Fairmont State raced out to a 17-2 lead six minutes into the game with the help of a full-court pressure defense that upset the rhythm of the Cardinal offense.
 
The Cardinals started to put things together on the offensive side and sliced the deficit down to 10, 29-19, on a basket-and-one by Gentry with 5:52 left in the first half.
 
Fairmont State quickly rebuilt its lead to 21 points four minutes later and eventually took a 45-28 lead into halftime.
 
The Cardinals were unable to get any closer than 16, 53-37, with 16:50 remaining in the game. Fairmont State led by at least 20 points for the final 12 minutes of the contest and cruised to the win.
 
Fairmont State's hot shotting spurred it on to the win. The Falcons were 33-of-61 (54 percent), including 11-of-21 (52 percent) from three-point territory. Wheeling only converted 21-of-67 (31 percent) and were just 2-of-17 (12 percent) shooting beyond-the-arc.
 
The up-tempo game saw 37 fast break points, combined, including 23 by Fairmont State.
 
Dale Bonner led the Falcons with 22 points. 
 
Wheeling was playing its first game since January 7 after pausing team activities and postponing two contests.
 
The Cardinals will travel to South Euclid, Ohio to take on Notre Dame (Ohio) on Monday, January 18. The game is a make-up date from the teams previously postponed game from January 10. The contest is set to begin at 4 p.m.