BOSTON, Mass. – Another weekend, another dominating win in an in-season tournament as the Wesleyan men’s basketball team handed Skidmore a 75-60 defeat on Friday night in the Emmanuel College Tip-Off Classic. The Cardinals (3-0) advance to Saturday night’s title game against Endicott at 8 PM.
 
A defense-dominated first half saw Wesleyan lead 36-26 despite shooting just 12-for-39 (30.8%) from the floor. Three-point shooting played a large role I the 10-point lead as the Cardinals were 6-of-15 (40%) from behind the arc compared to 4-for-13 for the Thoroughbreds. The Cardinals also went to the free throw line eight times, making six, while Skidmore missed their only two free throw attempts in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Wesleyan jumped out to a 11-2 lead in the opening 3:05 of play and continued to hold the nine-point advantage until Skidmore lowered the deficit to three at the midway point of the frame. Neither side made a basket for a stretch that lasted over four minutes, until Charlie Fantom hit a floater on the fast break for Skidmore with 5:44 left in the first. Wesleyan took their biggest lead of the half on a Nicky Johnson ’25 three-pointer, putting the Cardinals in front 36-24, before the Thoroughbreds scored on their last possession to make it a 10-point game at half.
 
Fritz Hauser ’26 nailed two three-pointers in a span of 1:24 early in the second half to give the Cardinals a 46-32 lead. The Cardinals continued to surge ahead as a 11-0 run, bookended with a Johnson floater in the lane, gave Wesleyan a 54-32 advantage. The two sides traded baskets for the final 11+ minutes before the final score had Wesleyan winning 75-60.
 
The second half was much better for Wesleyan in terms of offense, as the Cardinals shot 47.1% (16-for-34) overall and added three more three-pointers, giving the team nine makes from distance for the game. Wesleyan continued to play excellent defense, holding Skidmore to 34.4% shooting (11-for-32) and 2-for-13 (15.4%) from three. For the game, the Thoroughbreds shot just 34.9% overall and went 6-for-26 from three.
 
Johnson led all scorers with 25 points (9-14 FG, 4-6 3FG) to go along with eight rebounds, three assists, and no turnovers in 33 minutes. Shane Regan ’25 scored 19 points (7-15 FG) and tied his career-high with six assists. Hauser hit three three-pointers on his way to 13 points and nine rebounds. Jackson Cormier ’26 tallied eight points with four rebounds and three steals while Jared Langs ’25 grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds as the junior forward is averaging 11.7 per game thus far on the season.
 
Wesleyan is set to battle the Gulls in the title game on Saturday as this will be just the second all-time meeting between the two sides and the first since 2008.