Since The Argus’ last issue went to press on Thursday night, the Cardinal men’s basketball team played three games away from home, going 1-2. They started off the weekend on Thursday night, traveling to New Haven to play the Albertus Magnus College Falcons.

In their first game since a loss at Williams two days before Thanksgiving, the Cardinals faced a Falcons team featuring six players taller than 6’5”. But the Falcon that did the most damage was 6’0” Walden St. Juste, who scored 27 points to lead all scorers. Wesleyan simply could not recover from an 11-point deficit at halftime to the explosive Falcons, who shot almost 50% from the field and better than 80% from the free-throw line. The 86-74 loss came despite the best efforts of Shasha Brown ’13, who was again the Cardinals’ leading scorer with 17 points and also contributed 5 rebounds while playing on the wing.

The Cards rebounded from the loss in a big way two days later, soundly defeating Green Mountain College by an 80-59 score in the opening round of the Hockenbury Classic hosted by Norwich University. Wesleyan burst out of the gate with an early 10-0 lead, keyed by seven quick points by Jeremy Kaminer ’10, who finished with 17. Derick Beresford ’13 made three three-pointers in the first 12 minutes as the Cardinals jumped out to a 30-10 lead over the Eagles, which became 40-21 at halftime.

In the second half, the Cardinals did a great job of icing the game, never letting the Eagles get within 16 points and leading by as many as 25. Brown contributed 13 points, three assists, and three steals, and although Jason Mendell ’12 had an off shooting night, scoring only two points, he found a way to contribute by grabbing 12 rebounds. David Maltz ’11 also contributed 13 points off the bench. By defeating Green Mountain, Wesleyan earned the right to play Norwich for the tournament championship, the Cardinals’ second appearance in a tournament final this season.

On Sunday, however, the Cardinals were unable to defeat the host Cadets in a game that included numerous runs for each team. Although Norwich quickly took a 17-4 lead and led by as many as 18 in the first half, the Cardinals fought back valiantly, going on a 10-0 run to end the half down only six. The run continued into the second half, in which Wesleyan scored the first eight points to take a 39-37 lead. But Norwich guard Ryan Williams immediately made a three-pointer to begin a 10-0 Cadet run and take the lead back for good. The Cardinals were never able to get closer than three down after that, and the Cadets eventually won 73-65, but the game featured outstanding performances from Brown (21 points, five rebounds, three assists) and Mendell (18 points, eight rebounds). Brown was again honored for his tournament play: after winning MVP honors at the Inn at Middletown Tip-Off Tournament last month, he was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Hockenbury Classic. Mendell had been in a scoring slump the past three games, scoring a total of 17 points before breaking out with 18 against Norwich.

The Cardinals return home tonight to face Roger Williams University, with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.