Philippi, W.Va.– The West Virginia Wesleyan (1-8, 0-5) men’s basketball teams’ late run inside the Rex Pyles Arena was not enough to upend the Alderson Broaddus Battlers on Wednesday night. AB defeated the ‘Cats by a final score of 66-64. Wesleyan had two looks at the basket in the final five seconds but both attempts came up short.
 
Leaders for WVWC
Jayden Hibbitt led all scorers with 26 points in the contest. Hibbitt came one rebound shy of a double-double ripping down nine total boards. Braeden McGrew continued his strong season, tallying 18 points while grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out five assists.
 
Leaders for AB
KJ Walker’s 16 points led the Battlers. Jalen Knott recorded 13 points and six rebounds on the night. Coryon Rice and John Grayson both tallied 10 points apiece.
 
Inside the First Half
WVWC jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on back-to-back jumpers from McGrew. After the Battlers responded with a jumper of their own, Hibbitt got in on the scoring action converting an elbow jumper to bring the lead back to four. Hibbitt would score the Bobcats following eight points capped off with a baseline jumper at the 11:53 mark.
 
The two teams would exchange leads during the first 12 minutes of the contest. The Battlers would separate themselves going on an 8-0 run over the next four minutes ending with a Daunte Gardner layup with 4:19 left in the half. Gardner would convert a right elbow jumper with 39 seconds remaining in the half to make the halftime score 28-22 Battlers.
 
Inside the Second Half
McGrew opened up the second half doing a little bit of everything. After converting a layup at the 18:36 mark, McGrew would distribute assists on back-to-back possessions capped off by finding a cutting John Ibukunoluwa to trim the AB lead to five.
 
AB would muster an eight-point lead just after the under ten media timeout. However, Wesleyan would fight back, going on a 7-0 over the next two minutes. McGrew’s triple from the right-wing would pull the ‘Cats back within one with 8:14 to play.
 
The Battlers would hold off the Bobcats over the final eight minutes as WVWC could not tie the contest on the game’s final possession.
 
Up Next
WVWC is back in action on Saturday as they are back inside Rockefeller Center against the Falcons from Notre Dame (Ohio). Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.