Elkins, W. Va. - The Mountain East Conference (MEC) first half final stretch started in Elkins, West Virginia as the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (3-4, 0-2) hit the road. They were locked in an offensive shootout with conference rival Davis & Elkins, but in the end, it was the Senators who walked away victorious 98-83. The Cardinals were efficient throughout the second half, shooting 45.71% from the floor, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals fell to 0-2 in conference play.
The back and forth between the two teams started from the get-go, with neither team having more than a six point lead at any point in the first half. Davis & Elkins' Dontrell Jenkins scored the first points in the opening possession, and Alex Smith would add a free throw to get the Cardinals on the board two minutes into the game. The Senators had a 4-1 lead before William Gabbert tied the game with a three-pointer at 4-4. The teams traded the next four points, before Gabbert hit another three to give Wheeling their first lead of the night. The Senators quickly took back the lead, scoring six straight points, taking a 14-11 lead, before Sean Ealy boke the run. Gabbert would once again be the one who got the Cardinals back on the board, hitting a layup to tie the game at 17-17 heading into the 10-minute media timeout.
It would remain scoreless for the next minute and a half, but S.J. Hutchinson would give the Cardinals their biggest lead of the night. He hit back-to-back three-pointers and Caleb Murray got in on the three-point parade a minute later as the Cardinals took a 26-18 lead. Davis & Elkins kept the game of runs going, scoring 10 straight points to take a 28-26 lead as the two teams jockeyed for position as the five-minute media timeout approached. Davis & Elkins took a 30-27 lead with 4:07 to play, before the Cardinal's defense locked things down to close out the half. They would not allow another Senator point while the Cardinals began to run. A free throw from Jerry Saunders Jr. Started the run, and the Cardinals would score seven straight points to end the half. They headed into the locker room with a 34-30 lead and were looking to continue that momentum into the second half.
That final 20 minutes would be the highest scoring 20 minutes of the season, with the two teams combining for 117 points. Davis & Elkins' Charleston Ponds hit a three-pointer to start the half, but Tee Harris Jr. Responded with four straight points as the Cardinals held the lead at 38-33. Harris would play a key role to keeping the Cardinals ahead, scoring each of the team's first six points, but by the 15-minute media timeout, Davis & Elkins tied the game at 42-42. A pair of free throws from Sam Rolle IV would get Davis & Elkins in front, and the Cardinals stayed within one point of the Senators until the 12:49 mark. Davis & Elkins would go on an 13-2 run over the next three minutes, and built their biggest lead of the day at 61-49.
Wheeling would try to slowly battle back into the game, and they would get big contributions from Caleb Murray. He would hit a pair of free throws and a three-pointer that cut the Senator lead to 72-62 with 6:21 to play, and a Sean Ealy layup got the deficit back to single digits at 72-64. However, Davis & Elkins would end up sealing the deal with a 10-0 run that made it an 82-64 deficit with 3:47 to play. After battling back from a 13-point deficit in the game prior against CAL-U, the Cardinals continued to battle. They would find the three-pointer down the stretch, with Gabbert and Alex Smith each hitting long range shots as they made it a 91-81 game with 1:33 to play. However, Smith would hit the final Cardinal shot with 35 seconds to play, and the Cardinals would fall to Davis & Elkins 98-83 to round out the night.
The Cardinals had a pair of shooters leading the way, with Sean Ealy and William Gabbert each reaching the 18-point mark. Gabbert was the most efficient of the two, shooting 46.7% (7-15) from the floor, and tied for the team lead going 4-9 from beyond the arc. Ealy would lead the team with three assists on the day, and added a 7-16 mark from the floor as he continues leading the way for the Cardinals. Caleb Murray would add 16 points off the bench and was efficient from three-point range, shooting 66.7% (4-6) from beyond the arc. Alex Smith picked up his first double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 14 rebounds to round out the night.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, December 7th, when they host West Virginia Wesleyan with tip-off at 4 PM.
