West Liberty, W. Va. – With three minutes left in Friday's season-opener against East Stroudsburg, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-0, 0-0) was tired 64-63. The Cardinals would close out the game with strong free-throw shooting, and we're able to secure a season-opening 72-70 win.

The Cardinals made all five of their free throws over those final three minutes of the game, to help them regain and hold on to the lead. Senior Jarett Haines was first to the line and made both of his free throws to get Wheeling back out in front 65-63. Up next was Jay Gentry with :27 seconds left and the Cardinals down 70-67. Gentry nailed both free throws and made it a one-point game. John Korte came up with a big rebound on the other end of the floor and the Cardinals possessed the ball down by one with :19 to play. Senior Jordan Reid got the ball in his hands and gave Wheeling the lead on a jumper 71-70 with :06 on the clock.

He would secure the win with his 20^th point of the night, completing the and one, and wrapping up a 72-70 season-opening win for the Cardinals. After averaging 22.0 points per game last season, Reid picked up right where he left off with a 20-point effort in the win. He was one of three Cardinals to have double-digit in the game, as Jay Gentry (19) and Jarett Haines (14) each eclipsed the double-digit mark. Wheeling's offense showed that they can go toe-to-toe with another team's offense when they need to, and that is exactly what they did throughout the night.

Throughout the entirety of the first half of the game, neither team led by more than seven points. Through the first eight minutes of the game, East Stroudsburg held a slight 21-20 lead as the two teams went back and forth. A jumper by Korte would get the Wheeling offense going, as they went on a 7-0 run that had them staked to that 27-20 lead with 6:18 remaining before the half. However, East Stroudsburg would continue to battle back, and tied things at 32-32 with two minutes remaining in the half. Haines would get the ball in his hands with under two minutes to play before half, and a chance to get his team out in front.

Haines would miss the first shot, but he got his own rebound and put the next shot in to get Wheeling ahead 34-32. Reid and Gentry would make a pair of free throws each, and Korte would land a bucket to get Wheeling ahead 38-34 heading into the break. Reid scored 11 of his 20 points in that first half and Haines added eight of his 14 points. The Cardinals were efficient throughout the night and shot 32.7% from the floor in that first half. The offense would need to continue a similar output in the second half if they wanted to hold on against a top Division II program.

Wheeling's offense was able to keep them ahead at the start of the second half, as they went on a 12-6 run to take a 51-40 lead with 14 minutes left on the clock. However, East Stroudsburg would slowly battle back in the game and made the score 59-53 with 7:55 to play. Wheeling clung to their slight lead through the four-minute mark of the game, but a pair of free throws by East Stroudsburg's Mike Millsip made it a 61-60 lead. Wheeling would buckle down over the final four minutes of the game, and their top three scorers were able to do their job and led their team to victory.

On the defensive side of the ball, Andrew Taylor led the way with nine rebounds, and Korte added seven in the win. Wheeling was impressive from the free-throw line, shooting 86.4% from the free-throw line and 44.6% from the field. When their top three scorers are all on like they were tonight, Wheeling is a hard team to stop. They hope to keep that momentum going tomorrow when they wrap up their time at the Atla tic Region Crossover.

The Wheeling University Volleyball team is back in action tomorrow when they take on Winston-Salem at 4 PM.