West Liberty, W. Va. - The West Liberty Tip-off Classic officially rang in the 2025-2026 Men's Basketball season as the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-0, 0-0) made the trip up route 88 to West Liberty University. The Cardinals would take on Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponent California (PA) and battled back to open the season with an 85-82 win. With the win, Wheeling got out to a 1-0 start for the first time since the 2021-2022 season, as they took down one of the top programs in the Atlantic Region.
CAL-U would get out to an early lead, and was able to hold that advantage until the final seconds of the game. With 10 minutes to go, the Vulcans were staked to a 67-58 lead before Kris English got the Cardinals on the board with a layup. The two teams would go back and forth over the next five minutes and with 4:40 to play, CAL-U would continue to hold a nine point lead at 75-66. Ayden Goll would hit a layup that cut the lead to 75-70 and two minutes later a three-pointer from Tee Harris would cut the deficit to 77-75 with 2:14 to play. Curtis Harrison IV would help then come to the line for a pair of free throws, and hit both of them to make it a one-point game at 79-78 with 1:02 to play. He would follow with a dunk on the next possession and the Cardinals made it an 81-80 game.
The Cardinals needed a defensive stop and they would get on from Alex Smith on a steal, who fed the ball to Harris for the dunk to give Wheeling an 82-81 lead. A CAL-U free throw would tie things at 82-82 and, with just one second to go, Smith would draw a foul from beyond the arc and would come to the line for three free throws. He would end up nailing all three and the cardinals would win by the final score of 85-82 to open their season with a win. It capped off a 48-point second half for the Cardinals that saw them shoot 72% from the floor in the game's second half. They would add a 40% mark from beyond the arc and 83.33% mark from the free throw line over the final 20 minutes of play.
Leading the effort for the Cardinals was Tee Harris Jr., who led the way on both the offensive and defensive side of the effort. He would pace the Cardinals with 15 points on the day, shooting 58.3% (7-12) from the floor while leading the defense with six rebounds on the day. Four other Cardinals would hit double figures in the effort, with Ayden Goll (14), Curtis Harrison IV (12), and Kris English (10) all hitting the mark. Alex Smith led the passing game, finishing with a team-high six assists, while Goll finished right behind him with five assists on the day. The Cardinals finished with a 55.9% mark from the floor and a 33.3% mark from three-point range as they made a statement in their season opener.
As the night began. CAL-U would get on the board first and the two teams would go back and forth with the score sitting at 5-5 at the 17:48 mark of the first half. Caleb Murray would give Wheeling their first lead of the day with a jumper, and as the two teams approached the first media timeout of the day, the game remained tied at 9-9. The Vulcans would take the lead back with a 3-0 swing over the next minute and it was enough to keep them out in front at 14-11. Smith would get one of those points back with a free throw, but the Vulcans were right back at it, this time with a 7-0 swing and they would take their biggest lead of the day at 21-12. Jalen Wenger was able to break the run with a three-pointer, but three more Vulcan's points would make it a 23-15 game with 9:06 to go in the half.
Over the next four minutes, CAL-U would push their advantage to 35-25 just before the media timeout, and that is where the score would sit for the next two minutes. Harris would hit a layup to get back on the board, but the Vulcans would lead 37-27 with three minutes to play. Trevor Beresford would start the comeback with a layup and Caleb Muray would add a three-pointer that cut the lead to 37-32. CAL-U would add a pair of free throws and D.J. Wingfield would hit a three-pointer that got them back on stride and Harris added a layup to bring the game to 39-37. The Vulcans would add three more free throws in the half and the two teams went into halftime with the score sitting at 4-37. It would all come down to the final five minutes as the Cardinals got off to a strong start of the season.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, November 15th, when they take on Clarion with tip-off at 4 PM.
