Wheeling, W. Va. -As the 2024-25 regular season comes down to its final two weeks, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team welcomed Concord to the Alma Grace McDonough Center. The Mountain Lions have been one of the hottest teams in the conference, winning eight straight, but the Cardinals hung with their high scoring offense throughout the night. Despite putting up 51 points over the final 20 minutes of play, it wasn't enough as the Cardinals fell 93-84.
It was a familiar face at the forefront of the Cardinal offense, with Sean Ealy leading the way with 26 points in the effort. Ealy would make 11 of his 19 shots from the floor, putting together a 57.9% mark, while also leading the offense with three assists on the night. Ealy was one of four Cardinals to end the night in double figures, with Jerry Saunders Jr. (15), Alex Smith (14), and Caleb Murray (10) all hitting the mark. Alex Smith led the defensive game finishing with seven rebounds, six of those coming off the defensive glass, While Saunders Jr. Added a team-high two steals in the effort. After not seeing shots go in over the last couple games, the Cardinal's put together one of their best shooting performances as of late, making 48.4% of their shots, and 42.9% of their threes, as their offense showed that they can score with the best of them.
The back and forth nature of the game began right from the start after Concord got the first basket of the night at the 18:40 mark. Tee Harris Jr., who was coming off a big game of his own laid in the first Cardinal points and the teams would go on to trade the next eight tallies over the first five minutes of play. The offense has started with Ealy all season long, and tonight was no different, with the senior accounting for four of those eight points. Wheeling would take their first lead of the night on a Jerry Saunders Jr. Free throw, but it would be short lived as Concord answered with a short 5-0 run. It would be Curtis Harrison IV who broke the run with a three-pointer, but the Mountain Lions kept scoring, pushing their lead to 18-12. It would be another three, this time by Saunders, that stopped the run, and a free throw by Smith got the Cardinals back to within two points of the Mountain Lions. The Cardinals hung right in there as the clock hit the ten minute mark, with an Ealy jumper making it 22-20.
Concord would answer right away with a layup, but a Caleb Murray three and a Trevor Beresford layup were enough to get the Cardinals back in front at 25-24. The lead would change hands five times over the next four minutes, and Concord would hold a 30-29 lead with 6:10 to play in the quarter. After the flurry of offense, it would be the defenses that stood strong over the next three minutes, with neither team getting on the board during that time. The lead would change hands for the sixth time with 3:58 to go before the half, with Saunders breaking the drought with a driving layup into the paint. Concord would respond on the next possession with a layup from Boubacar Djigo that sent them on a 9-0 run that gave them their biggest lead of the night at 39-31. Saunders would end the half for the Cardinals with a layup, but one more Concord score sent the game into the halftime break with the Mountain Lions leading 41-33.
Wheeling shot an impressive 52% from the floor during that first half, and heading into the second half they would look to keep that efficiency. Smith got the new half started with a layup and completed the three-point play to get the Cardinals going. Concord would get a pair of free throws on the next possession, but the Cardinal string of three-point plays continued with Ealy completing another three-point play, while William Gabbert hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions. Wheeling made it a 48-45 game, ad kept it at a three-point deficit until right before the media timeout, when Concord hit an 8-2 run that pushed the score to 56-47. The Cardinals got to within two points of the Mountain Lions once again at 56-54, but just like before, they pulled away again on a 6-0 run and the Cardinals would trail 69-58 with 10 minutes to play.
The tides began to turn for the Cardinals with a pair of free throws from S.J. Hutchinson and a Harrison layup, but by the final media timeout the Cardinals were still trailing 78-69. It would be the Cardinal's two seniors that would lead them down the final stretch, with Ealy and Gabbert leading the way. Ealy got things started with a layup, and five straight points from Gabbert cut the lead to 81-76 with 2:49 to play. Ealy would add a three-pointer of his own to cut the lead to five with 2:00 to play, but a 5-0 run had it back to 89-79 as a minute ticked by. The Cardinals would get two more shots, with Gabbert responding with another three and Ealy adding a layup to get to within five points once again with 30 seconds to go, but that would be their final points of the night. Concord would add four points from the free throw line and went on to win 93-84.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Saturday, February 22nd, when they hit the road to face Glenville State with tip-off at 4 PM.
