SALEM, Mass. – A balanced attack saw five Cardinals score at least 11 points, leading the No. 25 ranked Wesleyan men's basketball team to a comfortable 75-61 road win at Salem State on Thursday night. A fourth straight win, all in the past eight days, moves Wesleyan to 7-2 on the season while the Vikings (7-3) see their five-game win streak come to an end.
 
Facing a dynamic offensive team in Salem State that came into Thursday's game averaging over 80 points per game while scoring 71+ points in 8-of-9 games this season, Wesleyan's defense did a job in holding the Vikings well below their season average. The Cardinals held Salem State to 32.8 percent shooting from the floor and a 5-for-21 showing (23.8 percent) from three while 52 of the Vikings' 61 points came from just three players while the Vikings bench was held scoreless.
 
The Cardinals leaned on their defense early and often in the one, holding the Vikings scoreless for over four minutes in the first half, using that scoreless spell to build their first double-digit lead at 22-11 with 8:13 left before halftime. The Vikings answered back with a 7-0 run, cutting the deficit to five, before Charlie Moore '27 came off the bench and drained a triple.
 
Sam Pohlman '26 converted a three-point play to give Wesleyan their first double-digit lead of the game and Fritz Hauser '26 later converted a four-point play that put the Cardinals up by 13 late in the half.
 
Leading by nine at the halftime break, three-pointers from Zach Wolinski '28 and Oscar Edelman '28 helped supply the offense for Wesleyan early in the second half. Then, just as Salem State cut the deficit down to six points with 13 minutes remaining, the Cardinal defense turned it up a notch and held the Vikings scoreless for over five minutes, stretching their lead to 59-44 with a 9-0 run in that span.
 
That stretch was the defining moment of the second half as Salem State would only get to within nine points of Wesleyan over the remaining 7+ minutes of the contest before the Cardinals closed out the 14-point win.
 
Pohlman led the Cardinals in scoring (16 points), rebounding (eight), assists (five) and minutes played (35). Edelman had 15 points, six rebounds, and four assists in just 25 minutes coming off the bench. Jackson Cormier '26 finished with 13 points, three rebounds, and four assists. Hauser scored 12 points and Wolinski totaled 11 points with six rebounds.
 
Wesleyan has one more game before a 2+ week break as the Cardinals play host to Western New England on Saturday at 3 PM.