Greensburg, Pa.—The Wheeling Jesuit men\u2019s basketball team overcame an 11-point halftime deficit en route to an 80-74 league victory on the road against Seton Hill University. The Cardinals (4-5, 2-4 WVIAC) surged in the final five minutes of the contest to snap the Griffins (6-4, 3-3 WVIAC) three game winning streak.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals were led by the sharp shooting of Joe Prati. The senior from Zanesville, Ohio poured in 21 points while shooting 5-for-6 from the field (83 percent) which included a perfect 5-for-5 showing from beyond the 3-point arc. Prati added a 6-for-6 effort from the foul line and grabbed eight rebounds. Justin Fritts and Ben Siefert followed with 16 and 15, respectively, while Recardo Gaddy rounded out the Cardilals\u2019 double-digit scorers with 13 points. Fritts and Gaddy also secured eight rebounds apiece. Andre Harris turned in a balanced stat sheet in his season debut, collecting eight points and seven rebounds.<\/p>\n
Prati opened the game with a trifecta, however, the Griffins quickly retaliated and flew to an eight point, 13-5, advantage in the first five minutes of Saturday\u2019s contest. Seton Hill led the rest of the way in the initial half, extending the lead to 11 points, 46-35, by halftime.<\/p>\n
In the second half, Jesuit began chipping away at the Griffin lead immediately. Siefert started the second frame with a layup and Fritts knocked down a pair of shots from the charity stripe. Jesuit kept the game close, cutting the deficit to one point on two occasions, but the Griffins continued to control the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
With 5:20 remaining in the game, Gaddy drained two free throws, and on the ensuing possession, Fritts recorded two points in the paint to give the Cardinals their first lead, 71-69, since the opening tap. Jesuit never relinquished the lead as Siefert connected with the bottom of the net on back-to-back trips, and Prati added a pair of shots from the charity stripe for a five point advantage, 77-72, with 43 seconds remaining. Harris (1-for-2) and Prati (2-for-2) rounded out the scoring from the foul line.<\/p>\n
Malachi Leonard led the Griffins with 23 points and nine rebounds, while Oliver McGlade and Max Kenyi followed with 12 and 11.<\/p>\n
Wheeling Jesuit shot 15-for-28 (54 percent) from the field in the final 20 minutes which included a 3-for-7 (43 percent) effort from downtown. For the game, WJU was 28-for-55 (51 percent) from the floor, 8-for-16 (50 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc and 16-for-22 (73 percent) from the foul line. Jesuit won the battle of the boards, outrebounding the Griffins 38-31.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals will be back in action at the Alma Grace McDonough Center on Tuesday, January 8 against Washington Adventist University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greensburg, Pa.—The Wheeling Jesuit men\u2019s basketball team overcame an 11-point halftime deficit en route to an 80-74 league victory on the road against Seton Hill University. The Cardinals (4-5, 2-4 WVIAC) surged in the final five minutes of the contest to snap the Griffins (6-4, 3-3 WVIAC) three game winning streak. The Cardinals were led […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14113,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college"],"yoast_head":"\n