The men’s basketball team continued its recent run of close losses this week, as the Cardinals lost at Salve Regina on Monday and at Eastern Connecticut on Wednesday. The two defeats dropped Wesleyan’s record from 6-11 to 6-13. Neither opponent is a member of the NESCAC, however, so the Cards’ conference record remains at 2-4, still giving them an outside shot at a NESCAC Championship berth.

Despite being behind 32-22 at halftime against Salve Regina, Wesleyan fought back to take as large as a five-point lead with eight minutes left. The Cards could not maintain the small lead, however, and Salve Regina tied the game in the final minute to force overtime. Justin Woodworth of the Seahawks drained a three to open the extra period, and after that the momentum was completely on the home team’s side. Wesleyan’s Stan Grayson ’09 scored a career-high 30 points on 14-of-18 shooting while also grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out four assists and pilfering four steals. Freshman sensation Jason Mendell ’12, despite having a subpar shooting night, added 20 points and six rebounds. Considering all this—and the fact that Wesleyan’s shooting percentage was 12 percent better than Salve Regina’s for the game—the result is a surprising one on paper. They couldn’t overcome the Seahawks, who clipped the Cardinals’ wings, 80-71.

“We didn’t come out prepared against Salve Regina, and while we put together a valiant effort to come back in the second half, it wasn’t enough,” Grayson said. “We have to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball to win.”

On Wednesday, the Cardinals had another close loss at Eastern Connecticut. Again, they fell behind early but fought back to take the lead in the second half. This time, they trailed by eight in the first 20 minutes, but David Maltz ’11 scored in the lane to give Wesleyan a 53-52 lead with 12 minutes left. However, the homestanding Warriors went on a 9-0 run to take a 61-53 lead. But Wes again displayed the resiliency that has been present all season, coming within a point with 3:22 left in the game when Steve Tolbert ’10 capped a 7-0 run with a free throw. Again, though, Eastern Connecticut went on a scoring spree, outscoring the Cardinals 9-2 over the next two minutes of action. The Cards came no closer than four points the rest of the way, and Eastern held them off for a 75-69 win.

Mendell and Grayson again led the scoring, with 23 and 19 points respectively. Guard Kevin Scura ’09 added 11 points, and he and Mendell combined to shoot 8-for-14 from three-point range. Grayson again filled the stat sheet, with six rebounds, a block and a steal to go along with his 19 points. After the game, he reflected on the two losses in three days, trying to focus on the big picture.

 “It definitely was unfortunate we couldn’t pull out the W’s,” Grayson said. “Eastern was a game about execution; we had a perfect game plan, we always knew the play that was coming, we just didn’t execute our game plan, and we didn’t take advantage of our opportunities. All that being said, if these two tough mid-week losses are what it takes to get us some more NESCAC wins and a tournament berth, we’ll take it.”

That positive outlook on the season will hopefully produce some more wins as the season draws to a close. On Saturday, the team’s four seniors will be recognized with a home game against NESCAC rival Connecticut College at 2:00 p.m.