Wheeling, W. Va. – After The women earned a hard-fought victory in the opener, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (3-2, 1-0) took the floor in the second half of Wednesday night's Doubleheader against Point Park. Wheeling came out of the gates hot, and it was enough to propel them to a 97-75 victory. It got the Cardinals out to their first 1-0 start in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play since the 2019-2020 season As they look to build momentum throughout December.
The Cardinal offense came out guns a blazing to start the first half, with Alex Smith hitting back-to-back jumpers over the first two minutes of play. Point Park broke the run with a three, but on the next possession, Ayden Goll would get all three points back with a three of his own. It would kick-off an 11-0 run for the Cardinals, with three of the four baskets being three-pointers, and by the media timeout it was a 15-3 Cardinal advantage. Goll accounted for eight of the 11 points on the run, before a Greg Williams lay-up for Point Park made it a 15-5 game with 14:52 to go in the half. As the Cardinals went to their depth pieces, Jerry Saunders Jr would make his presence known, hitting a pair of jumpers over the next three minutes as the Cardinals extended their lead to 24-12. That would be the score as the 10-minute mark ticked by and Wheeling looked to keep the momentum going the rest of the half.
After the 10-minute media, the Cardinals would hit another run, scoring nine of the next 11 points, and taking a 33-14 advantage with seven minutes left before half. The Pioneers broke the run with a jumper from Audan Anderson, and Point Park would slowly work their way back into the game. They went on a short 7-3 spirt to cut the Cardinal lead to 36-21, but Harris hit from three to bring the run to a halt. After going back And forth over the next 2 minutes, Caleb Murray would come to the line with 3:51 to go in the half and nailed both free throws. Wheeling would ride the wave on a 6-0 run as they opened up their biggest lead of the nightat 47-25. Curtis Harrison IV would add a lay-up with a minute and a half to go, And it was the Pioneers who finished the half from the free throw line. Wheeling went in the locker room with a 49-30 advantage thanks to a 60% (18-30) mark from the floor, including shooting 50% (7-14) from three-point range in the half.
The three ball would continue to be an important part of Wheeling's game in the second half, And they turn to it right away coming out of the break. Goll and Smith each hit one over the first 3 and ½ minutes, but Point Park slowly began to battle back. They complimented the Cardinal threes with six points of their own to keep the deficit at 19. However, the Cardinals locked in from the free throw line over the next two minutes, going 3-4 from the charity stripe, and a three from Point Park's Grant Welch made it 60-41 by the 15-minute media. The Pioneers would get hot from the three-point line Over the next 5 minutes and cut Wheeling's lead to 64-50 thanks to a 9-4 swing. Wheeling needed to squash the comeback attempt and it would be Harris who did just that. With 10:44 to play, he got his second three of the day, and Jerry Saunders Jr would add a driving layup to get Wheeling's lead back to 19 at 69-50.with under 10 minutes to play.
The shot that started It was the first of three three-pointers for Harris over the final 10 minutes of play. The second of those three three-pointers kept the run going and a Lamar Dampier layup would cap off an 11-0 swing for the Cardinals. A layup by Jalen Wenger would get the Cardinals over the 80 point. Mark and by the media time out their lead had grown to 82-63. The Cardinal starters would remain in for the next three minutes, but Head Coach Chris Richardson would turn to his bench for the final two. The bench kept the momentum that the starters had, with D.J. Wingfield hitting from three to get the Cardinals over the 90-poin threshold. Wingfield led the way over the final stretch, scoring five points in the final two minutes and a Derek Wilson three would get Wheeling to the 97-point mark. The Pioneers made one final free throw, and the game came to its final score of 97-75.
It was a pair of Cardinals leading the effort, with Ayden Goll and Tee Harris Jr each reaching the 19-point mark on the day. Each finished 6-9 (66.7%) from the floor, with Harris holding the advantage from three-point range, going 5-8 (62.5%). In total, five players would hit double figures on the night with Caleb Murray (13), Alex Smith (12), and Jerry Saunders Jr (11) all hitting the mark. Paris would lead the rebounding game with six, while Goll added five assists to lead the passing game. As a team, the Cardinal shot 56.5% (35-62) From the floor, with the three ball playing a big role with Wheeling going 15-30 (50%) from long range. The 97 points was a season high for the Cardinals as they got out to a big 1-0 start in conference play.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, December 6th, when they hit the road to face Salem at 4 PM
