Wheeling, W. Va. – It was another exciting night inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center as the Wheeling Men's Basketball (1-9, 0-6) hosted Slippery Rock Tuesday. The Cardinals battled down to the wire again, but it wasn't enough as they fell 81-78. It was the eighth loss of the season for the Cardinals by ten points or less and the sixth loss by four points or less.

There was a lot of action early on with both teams coming out of the gate strong. John Korte got things started with five straight points, hitting a layup and a three, and the Cardinals were out in front 5-0. They built their lead to 7-2 two minutes in, but The Rock kept battling back and it was back to a two-point game at the 16 minute mark. Wheeling maintained that slight lead over the next three minutes and by the first media timeout it was an 18-16 game. The Cardinals were looking for their first big break of the game and got it with 11 ticks remaining on the first half clock.

John Korte got things started with a three and an S.J. Hutchinson three had the team on a run. They would score the next nine unanswered points and opened up the lead to 27-17 with 9:37 left before the half. However, Slippery Rock wasn't ready to roll over as they answered with a 8-2 run of their own and it was once again a four-point game with 3:43 showing on the first half clock. Slippery Rock would end up making it a two-point game at 37-35 before the Cardinals ended the half on a run. Johnson created a turnover that sprung William Gabbert free for a layup and Wheeling started an 8-0 run to make it 45-35. The Rock would add one more free throw before the half and the Cardinals went into the locker room up 45-36.

The Cardinals once again held the halftime lead and looked to sustain that lead in the second half. Wheeling once again came out of the gate strong in the second half, scoring the first five points and pushing their lead to 50-36. However, Slippery Rock would hit a three to kill the run and that would be the catalyst to get them going. The two teams battled and Slippery Rock cut the Cardinal lead to 57-51 with 15:21 to play. Trey Stoffer would hit a three to get the Cardinals back on track and an Andrew Taylor layup got the lead back to 10 at 64-54. As time went on, the Rock used a relentless offense to continue cutting the lead and Wheeling led 69-67 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

With five minutes to play, Wheeling's lead was cut to 72-70 and it was shaping up to be another game coming down to the wire. Slippery Rock would tie the game before Korte put Wheeling back on top with a layup. The score would come back to even three more times and with 2:38 to play it was 76-76. A slippery rock layup and two wheeling free throws made it a 78-78 game before slippery rock hit a layup to take an 80-78 lead with 38 seconds left. The Cardinals had two more offensive possessions during that time, but a pair of missed jumpers kept it a two-point game. Wheeling would then foul and Slippery Rock would go for 1-2 to move the score to 81-78. Wheeling would get the ball back with 0.9 seconds on the clock and a desperation full court shot fell short bringing the game to an end at 81-78.

Wheeling was able to spread the ball around throughout the night with five players ending in double-digits. Leading the way on offense was John Korte, who finished with 19 points and eight rebounds and the leader on defense was Marcus Johnson with 18 points and nine rebounds. The other three double digit scorers were Brent Price (12), Andrew Taylor (11), and William Gabbert (10), with Taylor and Gabbert each setting season-highs. Price led the way with six assists and Trey Stoffer a d Johnson each finished with four assists to round out the night. Wheeling continues their Holiday non-conference schedule as they look to get over the hump and break back into the win column.

The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Monday, December 19th, when they hit the road to take on Ohio Dominican at 5 PM.