West Liberty, W. Va. - After over a month of preseason practices, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (0-1, 0-0) hit the floor for the first time on Friday night on day one of the West Liberty Classic tip-off. They opened up the weekend against Bluefield State, and were challenged with a tough press defense right from the get-go. The Cardinals battled and overcame it, scoring 50-points in the second half, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinal fell to the Bulldogs 107-83 to kick-off the season.
After Bluefield State got the first point of the night off a free throw, it would be sophomore Tee Harris that got things started strong. He hit a pair of three-pointers to start the Cardinals scoring and two and a half minutes into play it was a 6-5 Cardinal lead. Wheeling would continue to hit from three-point range with Alex Smith adding a shot and a layup as the Cardinals were in front 11-7. The Cardinals continued to hold the advantage, but missed layups were hurting them as Bluefield State began to battle back. Curtis Harrison IV got on the board with a pair of free throw, but Bluefield State's Jaylen Bernard would hit a three-pointer just before the first media timeout. It made it a one-point game and the Cardinals looked to regroup on the bench to make sure they stayed ahead. The two teams would go blow for blow over the next four minutes until the game sat tied at 18-18, and it was a Bulldog run that opened things up.
A pair of free throws would start the run for the Bulldogs as they scored five straight points and went ahead 23-18 for their first lead since the opening minute of play. Harris momentarily broke the run with a layup, but Bluefield State kept coming with their high pressure offense and extended their lead to 29-20 with eight and a half minutes left before the break. A three-pointer by Smith would keep the Cardinals alive at 31-25, but the final 10 minutes would see Bluefield State go on several runs to extend their lead. They would hit a 7-1 run following Smith's three and added a 6-0 run that pushed the score to 45-28 with 2:22 left before the half. Caleb Murray and Jaylon Jackson each made a pair of free throws before heading into the locker room, but the Cardinals found themselves behind 49-32. The Cardinals shot 32.26% from the floor in the first half and were looking to make more shots and gain some more consistency on offense in the second half.
Bluefield State would keep things going out of the locker room, hitting the first two shots of the half to go up 53-32, before Smith got the Cardinals on the board. Elijah Edwards followed with his first three of the night and a fast break steal from Harrison led to a Harris layup that made it a 55-39 game. Wheeling continued to find trouble getting to the basket in the early part of the second half, but their shots from three kept them in the game. Edwards, William Gabbert, and Sean Ealy would all hit from three-point range over the next five minutes and with 12:50 to play the Cardinals were down 67-48. Harrison would go on a run just before the second media timeout, scoring five straight points and a Murray dunk would send the team into the media timeout with the score sitting at 71-55.
With the team down by 23, the Cardinals were looking to show fight over the final 10 minutes and they did just that as they started to cut into the Bluefield State lead. Harrison would hit a pair of shots coming out of the media timeout, and added a free throw to send the team on a 5-0 run. Murray added a dunk and the Cardinals cut the lead to 16 before a layup from Darius Boben got the Bulldogs going again. Despite a strong effort from Harrison during the final 10 minutes, scoring nine of the team's final 28 points, the lead was too much for the Cardinals to overcome. Bluefield State would go over the century mark with 1:27 to play and a pair of dunks would seal the deal. Edwards came to the line one more time with a minute on the clock and would get the Cardinals their final two points as they fell 107-83.
The Cardinals would have three players reach double figures on the day, led by the effort of Tee Harris. Harris would finish with 19 points for the Cardinals, shooting 8-20 from the floor and 3-7 from three-point range, to finish just three points shy of his career high. Curtis Harrison IV put together a strong Cardinal debut, finishing with 16 points and six rebounds, while Alex Smith added 14 points in the effort. Smith would just miss out on his first career double-double, pacing the Cardinals with nine rebounds while finishing with four assists. Sean Ealy would lead the passing game, picking up five assists, five points, and five rebounds in the effort.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, November 9th, when they take on West Chester at 3 PM. You can watch that game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
