Wheeling, W. Va. – After trailing by 18 points at halftime, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-8, 0-6) would have to battle back in the second half. Wheeling would go off, scoring 42 second half points and nearly coming back to win the game in the final seconds. However, they ended up falling 72-70 with the final shot coming as time expired.

After trailing for the entire game, the Cardinals entered the final five minutes of the game with the score sitting at 65-63 with 5:34 to play. John Korte would even the score with a layup, and a foul allowed him to come to the line for a three-point play. He made the shot to give the Cardinals their first lead of the contest at 66-65. A Golden Eagles jumper brought the score back to 67-66 before the defense settled in. Neither team would get back on the board for the next two minutes until Korte hit a layup to make it 68-67 in favor of the Cardinals. Wheelint forced a big turnover to get the ball back with just over a minute to play, but and offensive foul gave the ball back to Charleston to set up a wild final minute of play.

With the ball back in their hands, the Golden Eagles would set up on offense and run the clock down. They took their shot with 35 seconds to play, landing a big three to make it a two-point game at 70-68. Korte would come through with yet another layup to tie things at 70-70. Charleston would then call a timeout and moved the ball to their offensive zone. They once again sat on the ball, running the clock down to 1.1 to play before hitting a layup that made it a 72-70 game. The Cardinals would then call a timeout as they tried to set up one more play. Brent Price would inbound the ball and got it back to bring the ball off the court. He got just below the center court Cardinal logo on their offensive side. He sent the ball flying towards the net, but unfortunately it bounced off the rim as the buzzed sounded and Wheeling fell 72-70 when all was said and done.

It was a big second half for John Korte who, after being held to just five points in the first half, went off scoring 20 points over the final 20 minutes of play to lead the way with 25 points in the night. He was one of three Cardinals to score in double figures on the night as Brent Price (14) and S.J. Hutchinson each getting into double figures. Price led the defense with seven rebounds, followed closely by Korte with six. Price and Korte each tied for the lead in the passing game with Hutchinson, as all three players had two assists on the night. The Cardinals now move to 1-8 overall and 0-6 in conference play, but have been playing much better than that record shows. Of those six losses, four have come by five points or less as they are on the cusp of a breakout.

 Early in the game, Charleston got off to a hot start in the game, scoring the first seven points of the contest to put Wheeling down early. However, the Cardinals began slowly fighting back into the game as Trey Stoffer hit his team on the board with a layup. Marcus Johnson added his first points of the night with a jumper and a Korte layup made it 9-6 with 16:03 left on the clock. Korte helped keep it a three-point game going 3-4 from the free throw line over the next minute and at the first media timeout it was 14-11 in favor of Charleston. However, the Golden Eagles would then go off on a 10-1 run and by the time the next media timeout can at the Uber 10 mark, Wheeling was trailing 24-12.

Wheeling would be outscored 20-16 over the final ten minutes and headed into halftime trailing 44-28 as they looked to battle back. As the second half started, Korte got his big half going with a layup and you could feel the momentum start to shift. Wheeling kept clawing their way back and made it a 51-39 game with 16:03 to play. It was part of a 6-0 run for the Cardinals that made it a 10-point game at the first second half media timeout.

Charleston expanded the lead to 57-43 before the Cardinals got going again. This time, the Cardinals put together a s 6-0 run that made it a 57-49 game by the time the next media came up. The two teams went back and forth until the score sat at 61-51 with 8:28 to go. That is when the Cardinals defense stepped up, allowing just four points over the next three minutes. It would allow Wheeling to go on a 12-4 run that brought the game to 65-63. The wild finish out a capper on what was a fun game to watch.

The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Tuesday, December 13th when they battle Slippery Rock at 7 PM.