Wheeling, W. Va. – After taking time for the Christmas break, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (5-6, 2-3) were back in action on Saturday as they closed out the 2023 portion of their schedule. They hosted Franciscan in a non-conference game and the offense came to play as they picked up a 94-75 win. It was the fourth time this season that the Cardinals eclipsed the 90 point mark in a game with career highs and milestone moments being hit.

Leading the charge for the Cardinals was Marcus Johnson, who tied for the team lead with 17 points while adding seven rebounds and three assists. With the effort, Johnson reached the 1,000 point mark for his entire collegiate career and needs just 237 more points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career at Wheeling University. Sean Ealy equaled Johnson's effort with 17 points of his own and also led the way with five assists on the day. Two other Cardinals reached double figures on the day, with Tee Harris putting up 15 to set a new career high and Caleb Murray rounded out the day with 10 points of his own. The win continues a string of big efforts for the Cardinals in recent weeks as they look to head into January and February with their best basketball still ahead of them.

After coming back from the Christmas breaks, both teams battled back and forth through the games first five minutes of play. Senior Trey Stoffer, who returned from injury for the first time since November 18th, got things going with a jumper as the teams went back and forth over the game's first 17 points. Francsican would hold a slight 9-8 advantage at the 15:46 mark, but a three-pointer by Stoffer would send the Cardinals into the first media timeout with an 11-9 advantage. Franciscan would tie it up coming out of that first break and the teams would go back and forth over the next 18 points. Franciscan got the big shot before the 10-minute media, when Nicholas Allienello hit a three to make it 24-21 in favor of the Barrons.

Trevor Beresford would get Wheeling back in the lead with a layup that led to a three-point play, and Caleb Murray added a three on the next possession that would end up putting the Cardinals in front for good. Johnson added a layup before a Jerry Saunders three pointer, and heading into the media timeout the Cardinals had their largest lead of the night at 34-28. Franciscan would battle back to within four coming out of the media timeout anealy layup put the team on their biggest run of the night. The Cardinals would score 11 of the next 13 points and upped their advantage to 45-32 before the Barrons got back on the board. Marcus Johnson would add one more jumper before the half on his road to 1,000 collegiate points and the Cardinals would head into the locker room with a 47-34 advantage.

As they came out for the second half, the Cardinals were able to maintain their advantage as the two teams were once again locked in a back and forth. Franciscan's Joseph Ciola hit the first shot of the new half, and Johnson followed on the next Cardinal's possession. The Barrons had gotten the Cardinal's lead back to single digits by the first media timeout, but it wouldn't last for long as Ealy hit a three-point play with 14 minutes to go as the Cardinals took a 57-45 lead. Over the next five minutes, the Cardinals would turn to some of their top bench players as Alex Yoakum and Caleb Murray got things going. Murray continued his success from beyond the arc, hitting two three-pointers during that span while Yoakum picked up a pair of layups to make it 69-55 at the 10 minute media timeout.

With 10 minutes to go, Johnson sat just three points away from his milestone and had two points in the game's second half. At the 6:13 mark, Johnson would hit a jumper to get him to within one point of the career milestone. The shot would come on the next possession as Johnson drove into the paint and put in a layup for the 1,000th point of his collegiate career. He now sits 237 points away from 1,000 points for his Wheeling career as he continues to lead the Cardinals. Over the final five minutes, Head Coach Chris Richardson would turn to his bench to get some experience. Tee Harris would lead the way over those final five minutes, scoring six points including two dunks  to get him to his career-best mark of 15 points. The Cardinals would go on to win 94-75, as they improve to 5-6 on the season and are just one win away from last season's win total.

The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, January 10th, when they host Fairmont State with tip-off at 7 PM.