California, PA. – The Christmas break schedule kicked off on Wednesday night as the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (4-6, 2-3) made the short trip to California, Pennsylvania. The Cardinals got out to a hot start, scoring a season-high 57 first half points, but it wasn't enough as the Vulcans battled back as Wheeling fell 94-90. It was another big game for the Cardinal's offense, as they have been hitting their stride to end 2023.

The Cardinal's hot start began with their offensive leader as Marcus Johnson scored the first nine points of the night, spanning the first four minutes of competition. He hit three jumpers and a three-pointer during that span, before Sean Ealy got his big day started with a three-pointer of his own. The Cardinal's defense held things down on their end of the floor and through the first five minutes of play, the Cardinals found themselves ahead 15-5. The Cardinals missed just three shots during the run and would hold the Vulcans to single digits through the first seven minutes of play. CAL-U would battle back to make it 22-11 at the 13:49 mark, but the early start was enough to keep the Cardinals ahead and with 10 minutes to play, they were clinged to a 33-21 advantage.

The scoring just kept on coming for the Cardinals as they got started on their second big run of the day. Caleb Murray hit a layup at the 10:08 mark that sent the Cardinals on a 10-2 run. During the run, the Cardinals got three-pointers from both Johnson and Ealy, and they increased their lead to 43-23 with 8:08 to go in the half. The 20-point Cardinal lead would stand through the five minute mark of the half, before Johnson hit his third three-pointer of the half to put Wheeling in front 52-29. CAL-U would start to find their shot at the end of the half, and battled back scoring 13 of the final 18 points as they cut into the Cardinal's lead. However, a pair of free throws by Kevin Coleman Jr. sent the Cardinal's into the locker room with a 57-42 advantage.

The 57 points were the most scored in a single half by the Cardinals this season, and they shot an impressive 58.3% from the floor, while hitting 10 of the 15 three-pointers they took. The Cardinals started the new half getting on the board again, as Marcus Johnson hit a layup, but CAL-U answered with five straight points to cut the lead to 59-47. Determined to stay in front, Ealy hit a jumper and Johnson added a three and with 15 minutes to play the Cardinals held a 64-47 lead. CAL-U has been one of the top offenses not only in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), but the Atlantic Region as well and began to show why. They went on runs of 6-0 and 11-2 and with five minutes to play it was a 79-70 Cardinal advantage.

Wheeling was looking for a way to break the run, and they did so by getting to the free throw line. Ealy would hit a pair of free throws to get the Cardinals over the 80-point mark and as the final media timeout hit, the Cardinals held an 83-72 lead. A 7-0 run for the Vulcans made it 83-79 and they would tie the game for the first time on a three-pointer from Jermaine Hall Jr. with three minutes to play. The Cardinals would go back and forth with the Vulcans, tying the game every time CAL-U took the lead but with 1:09 to play it was 91-87 Vulcans. Johnson would add one more three-pointer with a minute to go to make it 91-90, but the Vulcans would end it at the free throw line with a shot with seven seconds to go bringing the game to its final score of 94-90.

Leading the way for the Cardinals was junior Sean Ealy, who put up a career-high 30 points in the effort. He was the Cardinal's leader from long distance, going 6-8 from beyond the arc, while shooting a healthy 60% from the floor to lead the Cardinals. Marcus Johnson was the most efficient shooter for the Cardinals, going 11-15 (73.3%) from the floor while putting up 28 points on the night. Caleb Murray was the final Cardinal to hit double-digits on the day, scoring 14 points and hitting four threes for the fourth time this season. Redshirt freshman Alex Smith led the defensive effort with a career-high 10 rebounds while Johnson paced the passing effort with three assists.

The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team now heads home for Christmas and will return to action on Saturday, December 30th, when they host Franciscan with tip-off scheduled for 2 PM.