Wheeling, W. Va. - After a tough road loss last time out, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-4, 0-2) returned home on Tuesday night looking to turn things around. The team got off to a fast start but weren't able to hold off Alderson Broaddus as they dropped a close one 79-75. The Cardinals got off to a fast start with 40 points in the first half, but it wasn't enough as they fall to 0-2 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play.

In the early portions of the first half, the two teams battled back and forth trading the first 16 points of the game over four minutes. John Korte got the Cardinals scoring started with a layup and three points from both Marcus Johnson and Andrew Taylor helped make it in 8-8 game. The lead would change hands three times over the next two minutes and the team still found themselves deadlocked at 13-13 with 14:51 left in the first half. Johnson got his team back out in front with a layup and the Cardinals used it as momentum to score the next eight points to extend their lead to 21-13. Alderson Broaddus scored three straight points, but a Brent Price jumper got the Cardinals back on track, leading 23-16 at the halfway point of the first half.

Andrew Taylor hit a big layup to make it a 28-17 game, but the battlers brought it back to single digits going on and 8-0 run that made it 28-23 with just over four minutes to play in the first half. The game would remain close for the next minute as Wheeling led 31-26 with 3:21 showing on the clock before the defense shut down. They did not allow a point to the battlers over those final three and a half minutes as they allowed their offense to go to work. Johnson would hit three straight jumpers to make it 37-26 Cardinals and, with 18 seconds remaining in the half Brent Price hit a big three that sent the Cardinals in the locker room leading 40-26. With the lead sitting at 14 heading into half, the Cardinals looked to come out strong in the second half and build on that lead.

As they came out of the locker room, the Cardinals had trouble getting on the board scoring just two points over the first seven minutes of the second half. Alderson Broaddus would take advantage, scoring 20 points over that span, and turned what was a 14-point Wheeling lead into a 46-44 Battler lead. It was Alderson Broaduss's first lead since halfway through the first quarter and the Cardinals would try to battle to get that lead back. A free throw from Kevin Coleman Jr. got Wheeling back on the board but Alderson Broaddus just kept scoring and extended their lead to 51-45. The Cardinals would slowly eat away at the Alderson broadus lead over the next two minutes going on a 7-3 run and made it a 54-52 game heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Those final 10 minutes would prove exciting as neither team was able to pull ahead at any point. The largest lead held by either team was just eight points during the final 10 minutes and a jumper by Brent Price with 2:02 remaining made it a 75-71 game. A Battler layup made it a 77-71 game before freshman S.J. Hutchinson went to the charity stripe for some of the biggest free throws in his early collegiate career. The first time he stepped up was with 12 seconds remaining as he went 1-2 from the line to make it a 77-72 game. Price would grab the offensive rebound and Hutchinson would draw a foul from three-point range which brought him to the line with a chance to make it a one possession game. Hutchinson drained All three free throws and it was suddenly a 77-75 affair. With 5.8 Seconds remaining in the game Wheeling's only hope was to foul and get the ball back. They fouled Alderson Broaddus's Kobe Tingey, who would go to the line and hit his two shots to bring the game to its final score of 79-75.

The Cardinals had two shooters finish with 20+ points as Marcus Johnson (25) and John Korte (22) leading the offense. The final double-digit scorer for the Cardinals was Brent Price, who finished with 11 points on the night. Price was also the leader in both the passing game and the defensive game, leading the way with nine rebounds and three assists as he just missed a double-double. As a team, the Cardinal's first half shooting was much better than the second half, as they shot 48.48% from the floor in the first followed by a 28.13% mark in the second half. Wheeling now heads into the Thanksgiving break looking to rest and come back stronger as they continue through MEC play.

The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, November 30th, when they battle Davis & Elkins with tip-off at 7:30 PM.