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Cardinals Turned Away By Battlers

Photo by Cody Tomer Wheeling University’s Jordan Reid lifts off as he goes in for a bucket during Thursday’s season opener against Alderson Broaddus.

WHEELING — Wheeling University first-year head coach Chris Richardson and his Cardinals didn’t pocket a win on opening night but he is thrilled with the pieces he has going forward.

Senior guard Jordan Reid tallied 21 points, junior guard Jordan Beale turned in 17, sophomore forward John Korte netted 14 and junior guard Jay Gentry added 13 but Wheeling fell in a close 85-79 battle to Alderson Broaddus on Thursday inside the Alma McDonough Center.

“I thought our guys played extremely hard and I can’t wait to get back to practice with them (Friday) and Saturday and start getting back to work and building from this,” Richardson said. “We have a lot to clean up and a lot to get better at, especially on the defensive end but I know we have guys who are ready and willing to do that and I’m still excited about our team.”

Despite 11 lead changes, neither team could quite pull away.

With Wheeling trailing 74-68 with 6:54 remaining, Beale and Korte hit back-to-back 3-pointers to even the score at 74-74 with 5:04 to play.

After a Lacey Watson breakaway dunk put the Battlers on top briefly, Korte drained another trey to give the Cards a 78-76 cushion with only 3:28 to go.

However, the Battlers reeled off six straight points to grab an 82-78 advantage. Wheeling had several opportunities to cut into the lead but missed its mark as Alderson Broaddus earned its first win over Wheeling since Jan. 10 of 2013.

“They want so bad to do well,” Richardson said of his players. “They are great dudes but sometimes we just have to understand that the simple play is what wins over the course of 40 minutes and AB made more simple plays than we did (Thursday).”

Battlers’ guard David Shriver couldn’t miss early on as he bucketed six of his seven 3-point attempts in the first half. He finished with a team-high 21 points.

“Shriver is obviously a great shooter but he didn’t just become a great shooter (Thursday),” Richardson said. “He was a great shooter last year and in high school. I was a little disappointed with how we played against him defensively in the first half because that’s not how we were supposed to play but those are areas of growth.”

Gentry did his best to answer Shriver early on as he delivered a trio of treys in the first half and had 13 points at halftime with Alderson Broaddus leading 47-45. Reid also had 13 first-half points and Beale netted 10 for the Cards.

Gentry missed both 3-point attempts in the second half but Korte picked up the slack with three of his own. He scored all 14 of his points in the second half to keep the Cardinals within striking distance.

“It’s going to be a year where everybody’s got to be ready,” Richardson said. “We may not have everybody every night so we have to be ready when the moment comes. At times (Thursday) we were and at times we weren’t. We know what we’re getting with Jordan (Reid) every night. He’s tough and a great leader but we wanted to get (Korte) going in the second half. John is a really good player and he’s going to be a great player here for the rest of his career. I have to do a better job of putting the guys in a better position to play to their strengths. I have to make sure we’re getting guys shots when they are hot and if a guy is maybe not shooting the ball well, we can do something to get him some confidence on the floor and watch him take flight.”

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