Defense Ignites Top Ranked Cardinals Win Over NDC.

On a night when a capacity crowd filled up Murphy Gymnasium the top ranked Cardinals of Wheeling Jesuit used defense to shut down the high powered Notre Dame College offense into it's worst output of the season. When all was said and done it ended up a 75-55 win for Wheeling Jesuit. The Cardinals improve to 27-1 overall and 20-1 in the MEC. The Cardinals, winner's of 22 straight set up a showdown at #2 West Liberty on Saturday. NDC with the loss falls to 17-10 overall and 11-10 in the MEC.
  NDC was led by 20 points and seven rebounds from Will Vorhees- Ja'Sean Lewis tallied a double-double (12 points and 14 rebounds-) while Tyree Gaiter added 10 points and seven assists.  NDC shot 32 percent as a team from the floor (20-63-) they shot just 18 percent (5-28) from the 3-point line- while they struggled at the foul line, shooting 59 percent (10-17.)  The Falcons had 14 assists and 15 turnovers.
  The Cardinals were led by Mentor High School product Justin Fritts who drained five 3-pointer's en route to his 23 points.  Eric Siefert posted a double-double (13 points and 15 rebounds-) Haywood Highsmith netted 11- and Kyle Ritz contributed 10.  The Cardinals shot 39 percent from the floor 29-74-) 31 percent from the 3-point line (9-29-) and- 67 percent at the free throw line (8-12.)  The Cardinals won the rebounding battle 52-43.  They had 19 assists and 11 turnovers.  The story of the game was on the defensive end though.  Wheeling Jesuit held Tyree Gaiter 3-17 shooting on the day, including 0-9 from the 3-point line- Kyauta Taylor went 3-14 from the floor and 1-7 from the 3-point line.   The Cardinals held NDC without a fast break point on the evening.
  The first eight plus minutes saw the teams trade buckets and mini runs.  The game would be knotted at 14 at the 11:53 mark of the opening half.  The Cardinals would score the game's nest four points, NDC would go on another mini run after getting down to get to within one (20-19) after a Vorhees old fashioned 3-point play at 9:55 of the opening half.  Wheeling would run off the next seven points to open up a eight point lead (27-19) after a Fritts layup at 8:17 of the half.  Over the next 55 seconds NDC would get a Jay Banyasz bucket and a Taylor jumper to get to within four (27-23.)  The Cardinals would run off the next five to stretch the lead to nine (32-23.)  The Cardinals would stretch the lead to 13 (37-24) on another Fritts 3-pointer, before NDC would close the half on a 6-1 run to make it 38-30 at the intermission.
  Both teams would come out cold in the second half. A Vorhees layup at the 19:23 mark would be the only points of the first three minutes of the second stanza.   Ritz would break the Cardinals drought at the 17:00 mark.  NDC would get to within three (42-39) 2:52 later.  The Cardinals would stretch the lead to 11 (52-41) after another Fritts 3-pointer at the 11:04 mark.
 NDC would get to within eight  at the 9:09 mark (54-46.)  The Cardinals would then take control as a 16-2 run capped by a Siefert 3-pointer would remove all doubt.  The Cardinals would cruise to the 20 point victory.
 NDC will wrap up the regular season at Urbana Saturday. Tip time is set for 4 PM.
Wheeling Jesuit 27-1 (20-1)
West Liberty 25-2 (19-2)
Fairmont State 18-3 (24-3)
Concord 13-8 (18-9)
Notre Dame College 11-10 (17-10)
Charleston 14-13 (11-10)
Shepherd 15-12 (10-11)
West Virginia Wesleyan 15-12 (10-11)
Glenville State 10-17 (7-14)
West Virginia State 6-20 (4-17)
UVa-Wise 4-23 (2-19)
Urbana 2-24 (1-20)