Salem, W. Va. – Throughout the month of February the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (10-16, 6-13) has played some of their best basketball of the season. That effort continued on Wednesday night as the team took down Salem in their final non-conference game 96-90. The offense led the way for the Cardinals with four Cardinals hitting double figures on the night while two of those eclipsed the 20-point mark.

It was a big first half that led the Cardinals to victory and they got the spark right away. The Cardinals won the opening tip-off and Tee Harris delivered a dunk to give Wheeling a 2-0 lead. However, the two teams were locked in a back and forth battle over the first five minutes, with the game sitting tied at 9-9 at the 15:15 mark of the first half. Salem would take an advantage right before the media timeout on a three-pointer from Ashraf Tchadouwa before the Cardinals hit their run. Harris knocked down a three-pointer to get the Cardinals out in front 12-11 and kicked off an 8-0 run for the Cardinals. S.J. Hutchinson would score five of those eight points during the run as the Cardinals took a 17-11 lead. After Salem broke the run, a pair of big three-pointers from William Gabbert and Caleb Murray would have the Cardinals up 23-14 with 10:43 to go in the first half.

A three-pointer from Salem's Jack Garrison IV temporarily broke the run, but the Cardinals would continue their strong offensive push. Jumpers by Marcus Johnson and a three-pointer from Gabbert pushed the Cardinal lead to 29-18 with 8:10 remaining in the half and an S.J. Hutchinson three-pointer a minute and a half later got the Cardinals over the 30-point mark to make it 32-22. Another three-pointer from Ealy would cap off the 11-4 Cardinal run and by the media timeout, the Cardinals had built a 35-24 lead. Over the final five minutes, Salem would battle back to make it a single-digit deficit at 37-30 with 3:30 to play. Johnson would close out the scoring with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer that gave Wheeling a 42-33 lead heading into the halftime break.

After Salem came out with the first three points of the new half, Hutchinson would hit a three-pointer to answer back right away. Hutchinson would add another three-pointer two minutes later and the Cardinals were staked to a 48-36 lead. It was the Cardinals defense that played the biggest role during the first four minutes of the new half as they held Salem to just four points. The offense just kept scoring and with just over 14 minutes to play, Johnson hit a three and Tee Harris added a layup to make it a 61-43 lead with 13:56 to play. The defense continued to play strong as the clock ticked down to the 10-minute mark, allowing just 12 points during that time. The Cardinals were staked to a 66-48 lead, but would still have to hold off one final run from the Tigers.

Throughout the final 10 minutes of play, Salem slowly began to battle back into the game and, at the 2:43 mark, it was a nine-point game at 81-72. With a minute to go, Wheeling held an 88-85 lead and would have to get it done from the free throw line. Hutchinson was the first to come to the line and he hit his pair of free throws, but Salem continued to battle back and made it a 90-88 game. Johnson would be up next and, like Hutchinson, he hit his two shots to keep the Cardinals on the board Salem would have to foul Wheeling on each of the next two possessions and Ealy and Jerry Saunders Jr would come to the line. Both would hit their two free throws and it was enough for the Cardinals to take the 96-90 win to pick up their 10th win of the season.

It was a big day for the offense as Sean Ealy led the Cardinals with 22 points on the day. He played big for the Cardinals both from three-point range and from the charity stripe. He went 4-7 (57.1%) from three-point range and 6-7 (85.7%) from the charity stripe. The other Cardinal to hit the 20-point mark was S.J. Hutchinson, who finished with 20 points on the day and shot 50% from the floor. The final two Cardinals who hit double figures were Marcus Johnson (18) and Tee Harris Jr (11) who rounded out the day. Johnson would lead the defensive effort with eight rebounds and three different Cardinals led the way with two assists on the evening. The Cardinals would shoot 42.2% from the floor on the night and it gave them momentum as they head into their final regular season game.

The Wheeling University Women's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, March 2nd, when they host West Liberty with tip-off at 4 PM.