Wheeling, W. Va. - After receiving their first First-Round bye since the 2019-2020 season, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (19-9, 14-6) took the floor at WesBanco Arena on Friday afternoon for their Mountain East Conference (MEC) Quarterfinal match-up. They would take on #6 Concord and vibes were high with the team riding a five-game winning streak heading into tournament play. However, the Mountain Lion offense came out hot and the fire never died down as the Cardinals fell 96-71, bringing their 2026 Tournament run to an end.
Leading the effort was the reigning MEC Freshman of the Year Ayden Goll, who put up 19 points and led the way with four assists in the effort. He would notch the first Cardinal points of the night at the 17:45 mark and was the one consistent spark for the Cardinals throughout the night. He would finish the night shooting 7-18 from the floor and 2-10 from three-point range. Of his 19 points, 10 of those came in the first half as he tried to will the Cardinals back in the game. Goll finished the season as the conference's third-leading scorer, finishing with 18.1 Points Per Game. He ended up toping the Cardinals with 129 assists throughout the season, while picking up 45 steals to round out a Freshman of the Year season.
Finishing right behind him was senior Caleb Murray, who finished with 14 points on the night and shot a team-best 6-10 (60%) from the floor. He continued his hot three-point shooting, hitting 42.9% (3-7) of his shots from beyond the arc. He would hit a big three with 6:29 to play that brought the score back to within eight points, and he finished out the first half with eight points. He added his final three-pointer in the second half, and added six points to round him out to 14 points on the night. Murray was the Cardinal's main deep threat throughout the season, hitting a team-best 36% (81-225) from beyond the arc, while setting career-highs with both 442 points and 81 three-pointers made throughout the year. He was one of three Cardinal seniors who have stayed throughout their four years, and built the Cardinals from the ground up.
Murray joins teammates Trevor Beresford and Alex Smith as four-year members of the Cardinal squad, turning a 6-23 team from their freshman season into a 19-win team by their senior year. Joining them along the journey were Jerry Saunders Jr., Elijah Edwards, and Curtis Harrison IV, who came together to bring winning basketball back to Wheeling. As a group, the Cardinals finished the season with their most program wins since the 2017-18 season, finishing 19-9 overall, and picked up their highest tournament seeding since that same season. The group finished as the sixth highest scoring offense, putting up 85.9 points per game, while holding the opposition to the sixth fewest points at 82.7 PPG. The class of 2026 leaves a winning legacy that the program looks to build off in the future.
"I saw a thing the other day that said in Power 4 Conferences, only 22 players have stayed at one institution for four years. We have three here at Wheeling," said Wheeling University Head Men's Basketball Coach Chris Richardson. "That's why it's so hard because it's not just this year with this group it's been three years and a lot of patience and a lot of negativity at first and then building it into positivity. I am really proud of our seniors that they got to go out with a season like this, just disapointed that we couldn't get the result downtown."
Some of that future was on display over the final four minutes, as Richardson got the chance to go to some of his depth pieces. It started at the 3:54 mark when Roy Paz Jr. Hit a three-pointer, followed by a three from D.J. Wingfield, that got the Cardinals going. The bench would combine to score the final 14 points of the game for the Cardinals, with four different Cardinals contributing. Leading the way was senior Elijah Edwards, who finished out his college career with a free throw and a three-pointer, giving him four points in the contest. Paz and Wingfield each finished with three points in the effort, with both hitting threes during the run. With just 33 seconds left on the clock, Drew Fitzwater would drive towards the net and put up the final lay-up of the day, bringing the game to its final score of 96-71.
The Wheeling University Men's Basketball team now heads into the off-season as they prepare for the 2026-2027 season.
