Wheeling, W. Va. – It was an exciting night inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center on Wednesday night as the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (5-7, 2-4) opened the 2024 portion of their schedule in front of their home crowd. The Cardinals put together a big comeback effort, scoring 52 points over the final 20 minutes of play and got to within two points of knocking off Fairmont State. However, the comeback would end up falling just short as the Cardinals fell 84-82 as they continued to battle with some of the top teams the Mountain East Conference (MEC) has to offer.
As they went into halftime, the Cardinals found themselves trailing 44-30 and were shooting just 37.5% from the floor. They were looking to turn things around in the second half, but the Falcons came out just as strong as they did in the first half, outscoring the Cardinals 9-3 over the first three and a half minutes of play. Marcus Johnson would break the run with a layup, but a pair of Falcons free throws would send the teams into the first media timeout with Fairmont State leading 55-37. The Falcons lead would get to as much as 23 points when Fairmont State led 63-40 with 10:59 to play, but a jumper from Alex Yoakum would turn the tide. Just as the Falcons began to relax a little bit, the Cardinal's offense clicked, scoring 40 of their 52 points over the final 10-minute stretch.
With the Cardinals trailing 71-51 with 6:50 to play, the Cardinals defense would begin to step up, creating pressure and forcing several Falcon's miscues. This would lead to several Cardinal runs during the second half, with the first big one coming with the score sitting at 74-55. Johnson would be fouled and came to the free throw line for a pair of shots that would kickstart a 10-0 run that brought the score to 75-56. Johnson accounted for five of the team's 10 points as Wheeling began to chip away. After a pair of Falcon free throws stopped the run, the Cardinals were back at it again, this time going on an 11-4 run that would make it an 80-76 game with 1:10 showing on the clock. A big three-pointer from Fallou Koite had the momentum on Wheeling's side as they tried to complete the comeback.
The final minute would provide non-stop action as Kevin Coleman Jr. hit a layup with 32 seconds showing on the clock to make it 80-78. The Cardinals would foul on the next possession and a pair of free throws from Fairmont's Zyon Dobbs pushed the advantage to 82-78. It was a two-possession game, and the Cardinals would turn to their leader Johnson, who hit a three-pointer with five seconds to go to make it 82-81. The Cardinals would foul once again, this time with three seconds showing and Fairmont's Tommy Williams once again hit both his shots to make it 84-81. The Cardinals were trying to get up the court quickly for a game-tying three, but Fairmont State would end up fouling them before they could do so. Sean Ealy came to the line and, after hitting his first free throw, tried to set up a rebound play for his offense. Unfortunately, it fell just short, and the Cardinals would end up falling by the final score of 84-82.
The Cardinals were once again led by the efforts of Marcus Johnson, who finished with his second double-double of the 2023-2024 season. He led the scoring with 21 points and added a team-high 15 rebounds and five assists, while shooting 50% (5-10) from three-point range. The Cardinals also got a spark off the bench from sophomore Caleb Murray, who totaled 17 points on the night and was one of the Cardinal's most efficient shooters, putting up a 60% (6-10) rate from the floor. The final Cardinal to finish in double figures was senior Trey Stoffer, who finished with 11 points while tying with Murray for the team lead with three steals. The Cardinals continued riding their offensive momentum from the end of 2023 in their 2024 opener and look to keep pushing as they head down the stretch towards the 2024 MEC Tournament.
Early on, the Fairmont State offense came out strong, scoring the game's first five points before a Marcus Johnson layup broke the run. Johnson was back at it again with a three-pointer at the 17:24 mark and Wheeling had battled back to make it 7-5. Stoffer would step in with a three-pointer to cap the short five-point run and the Cardinals were staked to an 8-7 lead just under four minutes into regulation. The two teams would battle back and forth through the first five minutes of play and by the media timeout, the score was tied at 12-12. However, the tie didn't last long as the Falcons broke out into a 12-0 run that turned a tie game into a 24-12 affair with just over 11 minutes to play before the half.
Fairmont State got ahead by as much as 29-14 before Sean Ealy was able to hit a jumper in the paint to break the run and the Cardinals were looking to get their offense going. They would turn to their bench and got some big three-pointers from Murray and Kobe Tigney as they began to battle back. As the half winded down, William Gabbert and Johnson each added threes as the Cardinals cut the Fairmont State lead to just 11 points with 2:14 to go in the half. However, the Falcons would add three points before the break on a Dobbs layup and a Tommy Williams free throw and Wheeling would enter halftime trailing 44-30. The Cardinals made a valiant second half effort, but in the end, it wasn't enough as they fell to 5-7 overall and 2-4 in MEC play.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, January 13th, when they hit the road to face Frostburg State at 4 PM.
