Wheeling, W. Va. – after being down by seven points at halftime on Wednesday night, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (4-5,1-3) exploded for 50 points in the game's second half. However, the comeback effort would end up falling just shot as the Cardinals fell to West Virginia State 85-83. Two Cardinals would eclipse the 20-point mark on the day, including a career-high effort from S.J. Hutchinson, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals took their third Mountain East Conference (MEC) loss of the season.

Despite being down at the half, the Cardinals were far from out of the game, after shooting 36.84% in the first half. Even with their best defensive player in foul trouble early, the Cardinals hung around and their offense began to go to work in the second half. West Virginia State would get the first five points of the half, but the Cardinals answered with five of their own on a three by William Gabbert and a pair of Hutchinson free throws. Hutchinson would be one of the driving forces to the Cardinal's second half success, adding a three just after the media timeout, that turned into a four-point play after a foul. Hutchinson scored eight of the first 10 points for the Cardinals in the half, and cut the lead to single digits with a pair of free throws with 11:05 to play.

As the media timeout came and went. West Virginia State rebuilt their lead, getting to as high as 70-56 on a Aymeric Toussaint three-pointer with 7:41 left in regulation. It would be the three-ball that got the Cardinals back into the game as Caleb Murray added a three and drew a foul from beyond the arc on the next possession, making two of those three free throw attempts. With the deficit back to single digits, Hutchinson would add a three and capped off what would be a 13-0 run with a three-point play that made it 70-69 with 5:13 to go. Every time West Virginia State struck, the Cardinals had an answer as the game hung in the balance at 77-75 with 3:12 to go. A short 5-0 Yellow Jacket run created separation, but with 16 seconds to go, Gabbert would make a tip-in layup that made it 84-83. West Virginia State's Miguel Martinez came to the line with 15 seconds to go, and went 1-2 to give the Cardinals the ball and a two-point deficit. Wheeling had two tries at the basket, but were unable to convert as the game reached its final score.

It was a career night for S.J. Hutchinson, who came off the bench putting up a career-high 22 points in the effort. He was the Cardinal's most efficient shooter, going 6-10 (60%) from the floor, and added a 2-3 mark from beyond the arc to wrap up the day. The other Cardinal to reach the 20-point plateau was Sean Ealy, who finished with 20 points, while adding three assists in the effort. Alex Smith and Tee Harris Jr. Combined to lead the defense with eight rebounds each, while William Gabbert hit double figures with 14 points and added seven rebounds. Smith would round out the evening, leading the way in the passing game with four assists to close out the night for the Cardinals. Wheeling shot nearly 50% in the second half, going 14-29 (48.28%) from the floor, but a 59% mark from the Yellow Jackets was enough to close the book. 

The night would start with an early Cardinal advantage on a tip-in layup from Gabbert as the teams battled back and forth over the first four minutes of play. The game was knotted up at 6-6 early and remained a two-point West Virginia State advantage with 13:00 to play in the half. Sean Ealy kept it that was with a jumper that made it 12-10 and, after a Yellow Jacket three, Curtis Harrison IV added a three of his own to make it 15-13. Harrison would continue being a key contributor for the Cardinals before the media timeout, adding another layup to get the Cardinals within two points again at 17-15, and Hutchinson added a layup to tie things as 10 minutes struck on the clock. However, no matter how many times the Cardinals got close, they just couldn't overtake the strong West Virginia State offense.

The Yellow Jackets opened their biggest lead of the night with a 7-3 run, but once again the Cardinals remained close as Hutchinson got it back to within two points with a layup at the 7:17 mark. The Cardinals saw contributions up and down the bench, with Trevor Beresford adding a pair of free throws to make it 28-26 with 6:01 to go in the half, but West Virginia State would hit a run again. They scored five straight points to get out to a 33-26 advantage and that was enough to carry them throughout the half. Gabbert would hit a freee throw wit 54 seconds remaining, and the teams would go into the locker room with West Virginia State leading 40-33. The Cardinals tried to battle back in the second half, but fell just short of closing things out.

The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, December 14th, when they hit the road to face Charleston at 4 PM.