Wheeling, W. Va. - Since the 2024 portion of the schedule began back in January, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (6-14, 3-11) were in desperate need of a big win. On Wednesday night, they hosted West Virginia Wesleyan inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center and got just what the doctor ordered as they took down the Bobcats 84-63. It was the Cardinal's first win since they beat Franciscan back on December 30th, and it was a career night from a freshman that sparked the Cardinal's success.
Making his second consecutive start on Wednesday, freshman Tee Harris Jr would pace the Cardinals with a career-high 22 points in the winning effort. He was efficient throughout the night, shooting 70% (7-10) from the floor and picked up his first career double-double with a team-high 11 rebounds on the night. Over his last three games, Harris has really turned it on, averaging 16.0 PPG over his last three games and has become a strong part of the Cardinal offense. He was one of four Cardinals to hit double-figures on the night with Marcus Johnson (12), Sean Ealy (11), and Alex Yoakum (11) all getting to the mark. In total, 12 different Cardinals finished with at least one point in the contest and Head Coach Chris Richardson was able to empty his bench with everyone participating.
After the Cardinals went down 2-1 after the first four free throws of the game in the first minute, the offense kicked things into overdrive. Marcus Johnson hit a three-pointer to get the Cardinals back out in front and the team would embark on a 12-0 run that lasted four minutes and put them out in front 13-2. During the run, the Cardinals used the three ball to their advantage with Johnson hitting two and Sean Ealy adding another during the run to make it 13-2 with 14:16 left in the first half. The Bobcat's Jalen Canada broke the run with a jumper, but the Cardinal offense just kept scoring, adding a 7-2 run on top of that. Johnson got into foul trouble early and the Cardinal bench picked him up with William Gabbert, Kobe Tigney, and Ealy each scoring on the run. As the first half ticked past the 10 minute mark, the Cardinals had a 20-8 lead and were not looking back.
The Bobcats began to battle in the ladder part of the half with a 5-0 run that brought the game to 20-15 with 8:17 to play. The Cardinal needed another spark and Harris would provide that with a fast break Dunk that made it 22-15. This was the first of several sparks the Cardinals got from Harris, and this one sent the team on an 11-0 run that pushed the score to 31-16. S.J. Hutchinson would cap it off with a three-pointer and by the final media timeout, the Cardinals were staked to a 31-18 advantage. The three ball proved big for the Cardinals down the stretch, with the team hitting three of them over the final five minutes o the half. Yoakum, Hutchinson, and Johnson each hit one during the span and the Cardinals would head into halftime with a 42-24 advantage. It was their biggest halftime lead of the season and capped off an efficient half that saw the team shoot just over 51% from the floor.
The second half started much in the same way as the first, with the teams trading points in the first minute of play. However, unlike the first half, the back and forth continued over the first five minutes and the Cardinals lead 50-32 by the first media timeout. The Bobcats would slowly begin to battle back in the game over the next five minutes and, after the teams went back and forth on three-pointers, the Bobcats continued to chip away at the Cardinal lead. Jerry Saunders hit a pair of big shots with a three and a layup over those five minutes and with just under 10 minutes to play it was a 60-41 Cardinal advantage.
The Bobcats slowly but surely kept cutting into the Cardinal lead and after the final media timeout made their biggest push with Wheeling leading 68-51. West Virginia Wesleyan's Jalen Canada hit a layup and the Bobcats came up with back-to-back steals that turned intopoints and cut the Cardinal lead to 58-67. Richardson would call a timeout to help his team regroup and it was once again Harris who gave them that spark. Ealy would hit a layup coming out of the timeout and on the next possession, Harris jumped up for the block and got the dunk on the other end to put Wheeling ahead 72-57 with 5:17 to play. With the lead secure, Richardson turned to his bench as Korey Beckett, Fallou Koite, Trevor Beresford, Sammy Crist, and Dozie Enyosiobi would check in. The fivesome added three more points in the final five minutes as the Cardinals went on to win 84-63.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday when they hit the road to face Davis & Elkins at 4 PM.
