POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – After a competitive first 20 minutes, the Wesleyan men's basketball team pulled away in the second half on way to a 43-point victory Friday night. This game marks their first since February 16^th of 2020, ending the 635-day hiatus. Sam Peek '22 led the way for the Cardinals, pouring in a career-high 26 points in only 24 minutes.

He was helped by five of his teammates who contributed eight or more points themselves. Wesleyan wins their season opener to move to 1-0 on the young season, while Albright drops their first game of the year moving to 1-1.
 
FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS:

• The Cards started the game hot, capitalizing off Albright turnovers to to take an early lead. A Jordan James '22 fast break dunk had the lead at eight only three minutes in
• Albright responded with a 14-1 run over the next five minutes, retaking the lead 16-11.
• Sam Peek then got going for Wesleyan, scoring 10 of the Cardinals next 12 points to retake the lead 27-19
• Wesleyan controlled the rest of the first half. They held an 11 point lead going into halftime, on the back of Peek's 19 first half points

SECOND HALF HIGHLIGHTS:

• Wesleyan pulled away early in the second half, holding Albright scoreless in the first three and a half minutes during their 15-0 run
• Joe DeLollo '22 scored a fastbreak layup with 13:36 remaining opened up the lead to 30, leading to mass substitutions on both sides
• Shackylle Dezoine '23 came in provided instant offense, scoring six quick points to extend the margin to 35
• It was all Cardinals the rest of the way as yet another Sam Peek 3-pointer fell through to put the Cards up 40 with less then 6:30 to go
• Wesleyan outscored Albright 61-29 in the second half, hitting eight of their 12 3-point attempts (66%) 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Wesleyan was on fire from beyond the arc, hitting on 12 of their 23 attempts (52%)
• The Cards had six players with at least eight points, they were led by Sam Peek with 26, Preston Maccoux '23 with 13, and Antone Walker '22 with 11
• Peek hit on 10-of-17 from the floor, went 3-for-5 from three and hit all three free throw attempts to set a new career-high with 26 points, breaking his previous career-best of 25 set at Colby on Feb. 14, 2020
• The Cardinals' defense was stellar, holding Albright to just 40.3% shooting. They also forced 23 turnovers that turned into 32 Wesleyan points
• The blowout lead allowed 16 Wesleyan players to see time on the court. The bench contributed 41 points in total

WHAT'S NEXT:
Wesleyan advances to play in the next round of the Vassar Tip Off Tourney where they will face off against Elizabethtown (2-0) who defeated the host Vassar, 71-65. They will play Saturday at 3:00 PM up at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.