Wheeling, W. Va. – The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-10, 0-6)  hit the road one final time before the Christmas break on Monday when they traveled to Ohio Dominican. The Cardinals battled throughout the night, but it wasn't enough as they fell to the Panthers 71-56. Wheeling fell behind early in both halves and each time they battled back but just weren't able to complete the comeback. 

In the early going, the Panthers had the momentum scoring the first 11 points out of the gate spanning  the first four and a half minutes of the game. A big three from George Taylor III broke the run as Wheeling had to begin their comeback attempt early. Ohio Dominican expanded their lead to 13-3 before the first media time out as both defenses began to lock in. The Cardinals played lockdown defense for the next six minutes, not allowing a single Panther point during that time. The Wheeling offense took advantage, scoring six unanswered points and cutting the Panther lead to 13-9 with 8:53 left in the half. Brent Price got momentum back on the Cardinals side with a big dunk and added another layup for four points during the run. It was capped off by a Ryan Reasbeck jumper and Ohio Dominican would lead 13 - 9 with 8:53 to play in the first.

Wheeling got to within two points of the Panthers thanks to back to back layups by  Andrew Taylor and S.J. Hutchinson, but four straight Panther points brought it to a 19-13 game with 5:10 to play in the half. After the final media time out of the first half, Ohio Dominican would push their lead to 21-15 before the Cardinals got hot from three-point range. Junior Trey Stoffer got back-to-back threes that brought it to a 25-21 game with 3:01 to go as Wheeling looked to take their first lead of the night. They would get one more layup from Marcus Johnson, but those were the only two points for the Cardinals over the final three minutes of play. The Panthers scored the haves final four points and went into the locker room leading 31-23. It was a big battle for Wheeling after being down 11 at the start and they looked to continue that as they came out for the second half.

Price would begin the half strong for the Cardinals with the first layup, but Ohio Dominican was once again starting the half strong. They went on a 9-2 run that pushed the score to 42-27 with 14:56 to go. Hutchinson would get the Cardinals back on the board, going 2-4 from the free throw line and a Price Free throw and a Kevin Coleman jumper made it a 47-32 game. Over the next four minutes, the two teams went back and forth as the Cardinals got a spark from William Gabbert. Gabbert hit a layup followed by a three-pointer and Hutchinson added a layup to make it a 50-39 game with 9:41 to play.

However, Ohio Dominican would hit the run that clinched the game as they rattled off 11 straight points over the next three minutes as the game moved to a 61-39 affair. Reasbeck would be the one to break the run going 2-4 from the free throw line to get Wheeling back on the board. Marcus Johnson added a three-pointer and Wheeling brought it back to 63-44 with 4:52 to play. That three would start a hot streak for Johnson as he hit two more three-pointers to get the Cardinals to the 50 point mark with 2:48 to play. One more Johnson three would get wheeling as close as 67-53, but four straight Ohio Dominican points would end the night. In the games final 30 seconds, head coach Chris Richardson went to his bench to give the young guys a possession to end the game. They would respond as Caleb Murray hit the game's final three to bring the score to 73-56 in favor of Ohio Dominican.

That three-point streak by Marcus Johnson helped him lead the offense as the only double digit score on the night. Johnson finished with 16 points, including a 4-7 mark from three-point range. Brent Price followed with nine points and led the defense with nine rebounds as he just missed his second double-double of the season. He also led the passing game with six assists as he continues his strong first half. Trey Stoffer rounded out the top three scorers, finishing with eight points to round out his first half. Wheeling now heads into Christmas break looking to recharge and come back stronger with one more non-conference game before the new year.

The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Friday, December 30th, when they take on Franciscan University with tip-off at 3 PM.