Wheeling, W. Va. - Since taking over as Head Men's Basketball Coach for the 2020-2021 season, Chris Richardson has been building a program culture centered around winning. On Saturday, the Cardinals continued their winning ways when they took down Frostburg State 88-84, moving to 15-8 overall and 10-6 in Mountain East Conference (MEC) play. It marks their highest win total since the 2017-18 season, which was also the last time the team won the MEC Championships, and reduced their magic number to clinch a first round bye to two heading into the final two weeks of the season.
Early on, both defenses controlled the game, with neither team getting on the board for the first two and a half minutes of play. The first points would come when Alex Smith got to the free throw line, and went 1-2 at the 17:26 mark. Frostburg State would respond with the next three points, but Curtis Harrison IV got the Cardinals back to even with a layup. Caleb Murray would give the Cardinals the lead with a three and the team would head into the media timeout with a 6-3 advantage. Coming out of the break, Frostburg State would head on a 7-0 run and the lead changed hands for the third time in the game. Ayden Goll would break the run with a three and completed the four-point play after drawing a foul to tie things up at 10-10. The teams would go back and forth over the next two and a half minutes, and a Jerry Saunders JR. Jumper right before the 10-minute mark made it a 17-19 game.
The teams would trade three-pointers, with Harrison hitting the shot for the Cardinals, and Wheeling would flip the scoreboard again to make it a 21-20 Wheeling lead. The teams would score just four points over the next two minutes, and with 5:13 to go before the half, Harrison IV added a jumper and a free throw that made it 26-22 before the final first half media timeout. The Bobcats would try and battle back over the final five minutes of the half, but the Cardinals wouldn't budge as they came tied just once during that time Frostburg State would make it a 26-26 game, with 4:11 to go, but Goll quickly hit a three that put Wheeling back ahead. Frostburg State would make the score 33-30 with just under a minute to play in the half, before Murray hit a big three that sent the game into halftime with the Cardinals leading 36-30. The Cardinals shot just 39.5% through the first 20 minutes of play, and would look to hit their stride in the second half.
As the teams broke from the locker room, Frostburg State would score the first four points of the new half, before a Goll three got things going again. It was the first of seven straight points for the redshirt freshman as he helped the Cardinals build their lead to 43-35. The Cardinals would then go into the paint to extend the leaf, with Trevor Beresford scoring four straight points with a layup and a pair of free throws to extend the cardinals lead to 47-39.The Cardinals would get a layup from Smith before the 15-minute media and the Cardinals went into the break leading 49-40. The Cardinals held their lead at seven points coming out of the break, with a Goll layup making it 52-45, and Wheeling was able to maintain that advantage. Frostburg would get back to within two points of the Cardinals at 59-57, before Goll hit a three-pointer before the 10-minute mark to make it a 62-57 game.
The run that would clinch the game would come as the 10 minute mark elapsed as the Cardinal defense held Frostburg State off the board for nearly three minutes. The Cardinals would head on a 6-0 run during that time, with Saunders ending the run with a layup and the Cardinals held a 68-59 game. After a Smith layup gave the Cardinals a 70-61 lead, it was time for the Bobcats to battle back as they went off on a 7-1 run that made it a 71-67 game. Harris would come in with a dunk to break the run and hit a three to get the Cardinal lead back to 76-70. It was the first of three dunks for Harris over the game's final two and a half minutes, and Wheeling held an 82-76 lead late. Frostburg State battled, making it a four-point game by the time the final buzzer sounded, but the Cardinals were able to hold on for the 88-84 win.
Leading the way for the cardinals was redshirt freshman Ayden Goll, who finished with 24 points in the winning effort. He would finish as the team's most efficient shooter, going 9-16 (56.2%) from the floor and 5-9 (55.5%) from beyond the arc, as he continues to heat up down the stretch. He was one of two Cardinals to hit the 20-point mark, scoring 21 points while going 2-9 from three-point range. Rounding out the double digit scorers was Tee Harris Jr., who finished with 14 points while completing the double-double with a team-best 10 rebounds. Alex Smith would lead the passing game, finishing with six assists, while also holding the team best with four steals.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team returns to action on Wednesday, February 18th, when they take on Concord at 7:30 PM.
