WHEELING, W.Va. (Jan. 7) – The Wheeling University men's basketball team was unable to hang on late in an 85-79 loss to Alderson Broaddus Thursday night inside the McDonough Center.
 
Senior guard Jordan Reid (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) led the team with 21 points and added five rebounds and four blocks in the loss. Junior guard Jordan Beale (Durham, N.C./Voyager Academy) finished with 17 points, while sophomore forward John Korte (Watertown, Mass./Watertown) and junior guard Jay Gentry tossed in 14 and 13, respectively.
 
There was very little separating the two squads early in the game. After numerous tie scores throughout the first 10 minutes, the Battlers (1-0) managed to build a 29-21 lead with 7:55 left in the first quarter. The Cardinals (0-1) managed to draw back within one, 44-43, on a layup by Dayne Allen (St. Catherine, Jamaica/St. Catherine) in the final minutes, before heading into halftime trailing 47-45.
 
Korte scored the first six points of the second half on his own and helped Wheeling take a 51-47 lead four minutes into the period. AB regained the lead and out-scored the Cardinals 16-to-6 over the ensuing six minutes to reclaim the lead at 63-57 with 10:42 left in the game.
 
The Battlers held the lead until the 5:04-mark of the half, when Korte drained a three-pointer to tie the game at 74-74. Alderson Broaddus once again took the lead, but another trey by Korte gave Wheeling a 78-76 lead with 3:28 left in the game.
 
The Cardinals went cold from the field over the final three minutes of the evening and the Battlers went on a 7-1 run to close out the game and spoil Wheeling Head Coach Chris Richardson's debut game.
 
AB forward David Shriver led the Battlers with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from beyond-the-arc. AB finished the game shooting 31-of-62 (50 percent) from the field.

The contest was played without spectators or fans.
 
Wheeling will hit the road on Sunday, January 10 when it travels to South Euclid, Ohio to take on Notre Dame in a league contest. Game-time is set for 4 p.m. and spectators are not permitted.