The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (3-8, 2-3) battled back over the final minutes of the game on Saturday, but it wasn't enough as they fell in nonconference action to Ohio Dominican 78-73. In the process, senior Jordan Reid went over the 1,000-point mark in his career, and now has 1,005 points during his time at Wheeling.
 
He reached the milestone right as the first half was coming to an end, as he hit a layup that made the score 36-34 before the team's broke for the locker room. Reid finished his evening with 13 points, and shot 66.6% from the floor. He was one of four different Cardinals to finish in double digits on the day. Reid becomes the 47^th Cardinal all-time to reach the mark, and the first since the 2018 season. Also finishing in double-digits on the day was Jarett Haines, who led the way with 23 points, Tre Massey (10), and Jay Gentry (10). It was a tough loss in the end for the Cardinals, but they showed fight throughout the second half. They shot a tidy 49.1% from the floor, and led for a majority of the first half before the Panthers battled back in the second to win.
 
In what was a highly contested first half of play, and the teams proved that early battling score for score with each other through the first seven minutes of play. The teams would trade the first 16 points of the contest, and no team led by more than two points for the first six minutes of play. The first team to gtheer that markwas thee Panthers, when a short run got them ahead 13-10 at the 13:30 mark of the first half. Then, it was Wheeling's turn to battle back, and senior Jarett Haines hit a three-pointer that sparked the run that got them back in the lead. Wheeling would go on to score the next 11 points, and led the game 21-13 as the clock ticked past the 10 minute mark. 
 
Wheeling was able to maintain a lead of at least six points over the next three minutes of play, before Ohio Dominican began to battle back and make it a game again. They scored five points over the next two minutes of play, and brought the game to 26-23. The back and forth that the game began with continued over the final five minutes of play. However, this time, the Panthers outscored Wheeling 11-10 and had the ball as the time ticked away. They missed a three, and the Cardinals went into halftime ahead 36-34 and looking to build on their efforts.
 
However, as the second half began, it was Ohio Dominican that got the upper hand, scoring the first two points of the night. That gave them a 37-36 lead, the game went back and forth over the next couple of minutes, and at the 16:29 mark, Reid hit a jumper that gave Wheeling a 45-41 lead. It is a lead they would hold for just 30 seconds, as Ohio Dominican retook the lead. They went on a 15-2 run that put them ahead 53-47 with 12 minutes to play
 They held that lead as the clock ticked past the 10/ minute mark, and did it by getting hot from beyond the arc. They hit a pair of three pointers during that run and totaled eight three-pointers throughout the second half. As the clock ticked down past seven minutes, Wheeling would make one last push to get into the game.
 
Wheeling trailed 74-61 with three minutes to play, and got going when Tre Massey made back-to-back free throws. That sparked a 6-0 run over the next two minutes that's made the score 74-66 with 2:04 to play. However, that is the closest that Wheeling would get as the Panther's added four more points and it was enough to end the game. Massey hit one more three-pointer at the buzzer, and it brought the game to it's final score of 78-73. It was a loss to round out the 2021 portion of the season for the Cardinals, as they look to turn it around in 2022.

The Men's Basketball team is back in action in the new year, when they head on the road to face The University of Charleston at 4 PM.