Cardinals Men Prevail in OT

Wheeling, WV, Nov. 24, 2009 - Wheeling Jesuit University men's basketball coach Danny Sancomb truly believes that Andre Harris is going to be a special player in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Tuesday night in the youthful Cardinals' home opener at the Alma Grace McDonough Center, the 6-foot5 freshman guard from Scott Aronhalt's outstanding program at Zanesville High School showed some early signs of living up to those high expectations.

Harris drained a 3-pointer from deep in the left corner to put Wheeling Jesuit on top to stay with less than 2 minutes remaining in overtime. He then threaded the needle with a pair of sparkling assist passes the next two times down the floor to keep the Cardinals on track to a 91-88 victory against the University of Pitt-Johnstown.

''I let him know every day that if he listens to what we are telling him, he is going to have an outstanding career in this league,'' Sancomb said.

Along with his late-game heroics, Harris finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists and four steals as the Cardinals won their initial conference test and improved their overall record to 2-1.

The fast-paced game was sent into overtime on a layup by Wheeling sophomore Obi Ukwuoma, knotting the score at 79-79 with 16 seconds remaining in regulation. Andy Byer had a chance to win it for the Mountain Cats, but his shot from close-in was off the mark. Harris rushed the ball to the other end and drew a foul while attempting to get off a shot underneath the basket. However, the officials waved off the foul, rulling the horn had sounded ahead of the contact on Harris.

Ukwuoma, returing to the lineup after sitting out Saturday night's road loss at West Liberty with an ankle sprain, gave Wheeling Jesuit the lead in overtime with a stickback goal. A Byer triple put UPJ ahead by a point. After a Ben Seifert basket for Wheeling Jesuit and Patrick Grubbs' connection on the back end of a two-shot foul, the score was tied for the final time at 83-83.

The heavily guarded Harris, standing with his feet barely inbounds out in the corner, went up and splashed the ball through the cords, putting Cardinals in front to stay. It was a near-miraculous shot that shocked veteran Mountain Cats' coach Bob Rukavina.

''That was a big-time make,'' Rukavina said. ''I mean, our guy had him blanketed and with a hand in his face. I never thought he would make it.''

But Harris wasn't finished stunning the Pitt-Johnstown coach and his players. On Wheeling's next two possessions he delivered a pair of eye-popping passes to Steve Catich under the basket. The first one saw Harris look away and then fire the ball inside for an easy layup. On the next one, he delivered a perfect bounce pass that saw Catich fouled while going up for the shot.

Catich netted the front end of the 1-and-1 before missing the second, leaving Wheeling's lead at at 89-85 with 33 seconds remaining.

Grubbs, UPJ's 6-8 sophomore pivot who was a problem all night for the Cardinals defenders, scored on a putback, drew a foul and added the free throw to pull the visitors back within one point of a tie.

Ukwuoma was fouled with 10 seconds remaining and cashed both free throws to put the Wheeling Jesuit lead at three, leaving the Mountain Cats with a chance for a tie with a 3-pointer. Byer's shot was off the mark as time expired, allowing the Cardinals to escape with the victory.

''It really helped having Obi back,'' Sancomb said. ''He makes a big difference in how we play. He is our heart and soul. That's why he is our captain,''

Recardo Gaddy, another freshman member of the Cardinals' kiddie corps, also had a huge role. He knocked down five 3-pointers to score 20 points, while Catich finished with 19 and Ukwuoma 18.

Danny Branch's 26 points paced Pitt-Johnstown, now 1-1, follwoed by Grubbs with 19 points while Byer added 15.

''My hat's off to our team,'' Sancomb said. ''Things did not go well for us over the weekend. They could have laid down and said we are not going to be very good.

"But they came back and worked hard in practice on Monday and it paid off. We still have a long way to go but we are going to continue to improve as the year goes on.''

Numerous mistakes and some outstanding play by both sides on other occasions highlighted the evening.

Ukwuoma scored six of his 18 points in the late stages of the first half as the Cardinals trimmed a 40-29 deficit to a single point at 42-41.

Catich drained a triple 2 minutes into the second half to pull Wheeling into a 46-46 tie only to see Pitt-Johnstown go back in front on Nick Novak's runner. The Cardinals regained the lead at at 57-56 following Gaddy's 3-pointer and a layup by Harris in transition after a steal by Ben Siefert.

At the 10-minute mark, Gaddy found the range on still another 3-pointer as Wheeling Jesuit went on to open a 10-point advantage at 71-61 only to see the Mountain Cats rebound to eventually seize a two-point lead near the end of regulation. That was erased on Ukwuoma's basket.

Wheeling Jesuit men's basketball team will be back in action on Tuesday, December 1st as they battle the Rams of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. Tip off is set for 8:00p.m.