North Panhandle Times

Men’s Basketball Wraps up 2022 With Non-Conference Tilt Against Franciscan

After the mandatory NCAA Division II seven-day holiday break, the Wheeling University Men's Basketball team (1-10, 0-6) return to the court as they prepare for the 2023 stretch. They will do just that on Friday afternoon as they wrap up 2022 with a non-conference battle against Franciscan University, with tip-off scheduled for 3 PM. It will be the final Wheeling University home athletic event for the 2022 calendar year, and the team looks to gain some momentum as they head into the new year. 

Last time out, the Cardinals hit the road before the holidays to take on Ohio Dominican University in a game where they fell 71-56. Wheeling found themselves down early, allowing the Panthers to score the first 11 points of the game, and would have to battle back. They went on to outscore Ohio Dominican 23-20 over the next 16 minutes and by halftime it was a 31-23 Panther advantage. However, the Panthers were right back at it to start the second half, outscoring Wheeling 11-4 over the first six minutes of the half. Wheeling would try to battle back once again, but it was too little too late as the Cardinals would end up falling by the 71-56 score to drop to 1-10 on the season. 

Leading the way for the Cardinals was sophomore Marcus Johnson, who scored 16 points and upped his season average to 17.2 points per game. Over the final five minutes of the game, Johnson would put up 12 of those 16 points as he got hot from three-point range. He went 4-5 from beyond the arc over the final five minutes of the game and finished the game 4-7 from three-point range. For Johnson, it was the ninth time this season that he has scored 16+ points in a game and the 57.1% shooting mark from three-point range was his best mark of the season so far. 

While no other player finished in double figures on the night, the Cardinals also got an impressive performance from redshirt senior Brent Price. Price flirted with a triple-double on the night, finishing with nine points, nine rebounds, and six assists. It was the third time this season that Price has had six assists in a game, and he currently leads the Cardinals with 37 assists this season. Junior Trey Stoffer and freshman S.J. Hutchinson rounded out the day, scoring six points each, with Stoffer adding a 2-6 mark from three-point range. 

As the Cardinals wrap up the 2022 portion of their schedule, they look to get some momentum on their side before heading into the 2023 conference stretch run. The Cardinals currently sit in 12th place in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) standings but are still in the thick of the MEC Tournament run. They sit just one game out of the final playoff spot but are also just three games back of being as high as sixth place. Heading into 2023, three of their first four games come against opponents who sit within that three-game range and a win streak could put the Cardinals back where they want to be heading into late January and early February. 

The Matchup 

The Cardinals and Barons are meeting for the first time in program history on Friday inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. Franciscan University comes into the contest sitting at 3-8 overall and 0-6 in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play. The Barons are 1-5 when playing on the road this season and are averaging 74.8 points per game on the road this season. Wheeling looks to start the all-time series with a bang as they try and get momentum heading into 2023. 

The Details 

Tip-off for Friday afternoon's game is scheduled for 3 PM inside the Alma Grace McDonough Center. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE. 

Original source can be found here