Slippery Rock, PA. - The non-conference schedule took the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-2, 0-0) up I-79 as they battled Slippery Rock on Wednesday night. The Cardinals would battle back in the second half, scoring 44 points over the final 20 minutes, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals fell to The Rock 82-71. The Cardinals had three players finish in double figures on the night as they continued to showcase their depth as they battle through their road warrior schedule to start the season.
After being held to just a 26.67 field goal percentage over the first half, the Cardinals would look to turn things around in the second half. Wheeling was trailing 36-27 coming out of the locker room, and Slippery Rock would extend their lead to 43-29 over the first minute and a half of the second half. The Cardinals would break the run with a jumper from Tee Harris Jr., and Caleb Murray would add a three-pointer that made it a 46-34 affair. However, the Rock turned in a 6-0 run that spanned the next minute and they took their biggest lead of the night at 52-34. It would once again be Harris that broke the run with a layup and Lamar Dampier would add a lay-up that made it 52-38 as the teams headed into the first media timeout. The Cardinals were held to just four more points over the next five minutes and a Jerry Saunders Jr. Free throw would send the game into the final 10 minutes with the score sitting at 62-43.
Two more Saunders free throws were the only Cardinal scores over the next five minutes and Slippery Rock would hold a 67-45 lead with 5:57 to play. Dampier would add a layup, and Harris went coast-to-coast with a dunk as the Cardinals began to battle back. They would send themselves on a 12-1 run that got the Cardinals back to within11 points with four minutes to play. It was once again Dampier and Harris fueling the run, with a three from Dampier finishing the run and putting the score at 68-57. After a pair of free throws from the Rock and Ayden Goll would add a three that made it a 10-point game with the score sitting at 70-60. Goll would be a big part of the comeback effort, finishing with nine of the final 13 points in the game and helped Wheeling bring the game to its final score of 82-71. It was a strong bounce back for the Cardinals, who finished with a 41.86% mark from the floor as Wheeling put up 44 points in the losing effort.
Leading the way for the Cardinals was Tee Harris Jr., who led the team with both 19 points and five rebounds on the day. Harris would finish 8-19 (42.1%) from the floor and helped control the ball on both ends of the floor. Ayden Goll would tie HArris for the team lead with 19 points, while serving as the leader of the passing game with four assists on the day. The final Cardinal to hit the double digit mark was Lamar Dampier, who set a new career-high with 10 points in the effort. After a slow first half, the cardinals showed a lot of fight on the court as thyey battled back and continued to spread the ball around. In total, nine different Cardinals contributed on the day, with 13 different players seeing the court on the day.
As the night started out, Slippery Rock would take the lead early, with the Rock going on a 7-3 run to start things off. Goll would be responsible for the lone three on the run, and by the media timeout, the score would remain at 7-3 in favor of Slippery Rock. The lead was extended to 11-3, before Saunders Jr. Added a three-pointer to break the run and make it an 11-6 game. Wheeling would go to the free throw line with 12:36 to go in the game and Tee HArris hit a pair of free throws to make it 14-8. As the 10-minute mark ticked by, Trevor Beresford would get into the paint and added a layup that would get them within eight points at 18-10.
Wheeling would continue to gain on Slippery Rock as the half went on and, at the 6:45 mark, Harris would add a jumper that made it 20-12. Caleb Murray would follow with a fastbreak three-pointer, and the Cardinals cut the deficit to five at 20-15. Alex Smith would add the next two free throws and heading into the media timeout the score sat at 23-17 with five minutes to play. Wheeling was able to keep it a single-digit deficit for the and in the final minute the Cardinals would force a turnover before calling a timeout. They got the ball to D.J. Wingifeld an he would come through with a three-pointer that would make it a 33-27 game with 13 seconds to go in the half. Slippery Rock would hit the final three of the half and Slippery Rock hit the halftime break leading 36-27. The Cardinals would battle back in the second half but would fall by the final score of 82-71.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Sunday, November 23rd, when they take on Winston-Salem with tip-off at noon.
