WORCESTER, Mass. – The Wesleyan men's basketball team got back to winning ways, using a dominating defensive performance to defeat Worcester State, 73-60, on the road on Tuesday night. The Cardinals move to 2-4 on the season, breaking a four-game losing streak, while the Lancers drop to 5-3 overall.
 
Facing a Lancer team that came in having scored at least 70 points in all but one game this season, Wesleyan limited scoring chances throughout and held Worcester State to just 29.1 percent shooting (23-79 FG) including a 23.6 percent showing on two-point attempts in the game. The Lancers also went just 4-for-11 (36.4 percent) from the free throw line while Wesleyan hit on 15-of-17 (88.2 percent) attempts in the win.
 
In a game the Cardinals never trailed, both sides struggled coming out of the gates. After Wesleyan took an 8-6 lead just over six minutes into play, neither side scored a point for over three minutes until Fritz Hauser '26 hit a three with 10:45 left in the first half. That Hauser triple was followed by Cole Bryant '25 hitting from deep before field goals on consecutive trips from Shackylle Dezonie '23 and Hauser gave the Cardinals a 18-8 lead.
 
Indicating a sign of things to come in the game, from the 14:58 mark of the first half up until there was 6:08 remaining, Wesleyan held Worcester State to just one made field goal and four total points in the span of nearly nine minutes. The Lancers found some footing with a 7-0 run in a span of less than two minutes to drop the deficit down to five points. After later closing the gap to three, Bryant hit again from three before Jared Langs '25 hit a couple from deep in the paint to hand Wesleyan a 34-26 halftime lead.
 
As the Lancer offense continued to struggle early in the second half, Wesleyan opened up a double-digit advantage with Hauser finishing a feed from Dezonie before Nicky Johnson '25 hit from long range to make it 39-26 Cardinals. Just as the Lancers closed the deficit to seven, Dezonie hit a pair of three-pointers in a 9-0 Cardinal run that gave Wesleyan their biggest lead of the game at 48-32.
 
The Lancers worked their way back to a single-digit margin close to midway through the second half but the Cardinals were too much as a 10-2 run in the final few minutes put the game far out of reach before ultimately finishing off a 73-60 victory.
 
Gave Ravetz '23 hit double figures for the third straight game and fifth time overall through six games this season, as the senior tallied 12 points while matching his career-high with 11 rebounds. This marked Ravetz's first double-double of the season, easily surpassing his previous season-high of six rebounds, while it gives him four double-doubles for his career.
 
Dezonie led the Cardinals in scoring for the first time this season, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Preston Maccoux '23 is starting to find his stride after missing the first four games this season with an injury, as the senior wing totaled 12 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two blocks in 31 minutes.
 
Hauser finished with 11 points and two blocks in just 22 minutes, giving the Cardinals four players in double figures. Johnson chipped in seven points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals while Langs tallied eight points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists in just 18 minutes of action.
 
All five members of the Worcester State starting lineup finished below 37 percent shooting for the game. Aaaron Nkrumah led the way with 17 points but shot just 6-for-20 from the floor. Zion Hendrix added 12 points and five assists while Daniel Liberatore hit on four of his six three-point attempts for the hosts.
 
Next up for the Cardinals is a non-league, Little Three showdown in Williamstown as Wesleyan travels to face the Ephs on Saturday at 6 PM.