West Liberty, W. Va. – Riding a high of back-to-back wins, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (11-5, 6-4) made the trip up Route 88 for the first 2025-2026 edition of "The Battle for Wheeling." The Cardinals continued that momentum into the first half, but the strong start wasn't enough as Wheeling fell to West Liberty 93-81. Wheeling had the lead at halftime and continued to hold the lead with 14 minutes to play, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals moved to 6-4 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play.
West Liberty would score the first four points of the game to start things off, but Caleb Murray would get the Cardinals on the board. He would hit a layup at the 17:32 mark, and he added another bucket to make it a 6-4 game. The two teams would go back and forth over the next two minutes, and a Murray three right before the media timeout kept the Cardinals close at 12-9. That would be the score heading into the first media timeout, and Goll would add a layup following the break that made it a 12-11 game. West Liberty would hit a three to get to the 15-point mark, and the Cardinals defense would keep West Liberty at bay for the next three minutes. Jerry Saunders Jr. would add four straight points off the bench during the run and the Cardinals tied things at 15-15. West Liberty would break the run with a jumper and that would be the final score before the 10 minute mark and West Liberty would lead 17-15.
Wheeling would tie the game up at 18-18 with three points coming out of the break, but a Hilltopper three kept West Liberty lead at 21-18. The back and forth would continue for the rest of the half, as West Liberty took a 24-20 lead, and Murray would get the Cardinals right back in it. He would account for the next five Cardinal points over the next minute and at the five-minute media timeout, the Cardinals trailed 24-23. West Liberty would take their biggest lead of the night thanks to a 10-2 run and with 3:38 to play in the half it was a 34-25 West Liberty advantage. However, the Cardinals would not let the game get away from them, starting with a Tee Harris Jr. layup that made it a 34-27 game. It was part of a 5-0 Cardinal run and, after being momentarily broken, the Cardinals would get it going right away on their next possession when Murray hit a driving layup. Saunders Jr would hit a three and Goll gave the Cardinals the lead with a shot beyond the arc before the half.
The Cardinals went into the break leading 39-38, thanks to a late spurt of three-point success. The Hilltoppers would hit a three coming out of the break, but Goll immediately tied things up with a pair of free throws. The game sat tied at 43-43 when Curtis Harrison IV hit a dunk that sent the Cardinals on their first run of the new half. It sent the Cardinals on a 6-0 run that spanned the next five minutes, and the Cardinals had their biggest lead of the day at 48-43. Murray would hit a three that capped off the run, and by the 15-minute media Harrison would drive in for the layup and hit it to give the Cardinals a 50-45 lead. Harris would hit four straight points coming out of the break and the Cardinal lead would extend to 54-47. West Liberty would then hit their game-tying run, scoring seven straight points, and the game would be tied at 54-54 with 12:35 to play. Th Hilltoppers would take the lead before the 10-minute media and with 10 minutes to play it was a 61-58 lead.
They would expand that lead to 64-58, but the Cardinals would continue to fight thanks to an Ayden Goll layup and Curtis Harrison IV would add a layup to make it a 64-62 game. Another 8-0 run for the Toppers would extend the lead once again and the Cardinals would have to continue to battle. Goll would get the Cardinals back to within single digits before the five minute mark, thanks to a turnaround dumper and, with five minutes to go it was an 80-70 affair. The Cardinals final effort to battle back would come with 3:31 to play when Goll once again got things going with a pair of free throws. Smith would add a pair of free throws of his own with 1:49 to play, and the Cardinals trailed 85-76. West Liberty would seal the deal with another 5-0 run that for them over the 90 point mark that sealed the deal. Wheeling would end up falling by the final score of 93-81.
Leading the effort was Ayden Goll, who finished with 21 points, that included another big effort from the charity stripe. He would finish 8-7 from the charity stripe, including a 6-17 mark from the floor as he got back in double figures for the first time in the past three games. Caleb Murray would finish right behind him, finishing with 19 points that included a 3-8 mark from beyond the arc in the effort. Curtis Harrison IV and Tee Harris Jr. rounded out the double digit scorers with 12 points each, and Harris added a double-double with 12 rebounds to lead the effort. Alex Smith would lead the passing game, finishing with six assists to round out the day for the Cardinals. As a team, Wheeling would shoot 41.3% from the floor and 56% from the charity stripe to round out the rivalry match-up.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, January 28th, when they hit the road to face the University of Charleston at 7:30 PM.
