By Duane Cochran
FAIRMONT — When you lose a second-team All-America selection and the nation’s second-leading scorer from your offense the obvious question heading into the following season is who is going to pick up the scoring slack.
Sunday evening Fairmont State’s men’s basketball team got an answer in its season opener against Maryland Bible College in the annual Global Science & Technology FSU Tip-Off Classic at the Joe Retton Arena. And the answer is — pretty much everyone else.
The Falcons placed five players in double figures in the scoring column and had a trio of others finish with seven points as they rolled to a 92-65 victory over Maryland Bible.
“We have more scorers this year and everyone can do a lot of different things and contribute to our team in a lot of different ways,” said FSU sophomore guard Steve Custis, who along with true freshman guard Isaac Thornton led the Falcons with 13 points and eight rebounds apiece. “That’s going to be a big key for us this season, getting a lot of balanced scoring.”
Thornton, who led Martinsburg High School to the West Virginia Class AAA state title last year, admitted he was a bit nervous in his first college game, but it didn’t show in his play on the court.
“The guys really helped me feel comfortable out there tonight,” said Thornton. “I thought I did okay. The speed of the game is so much quicker than it is in high school. That's been one of the biggest things I’ve had to adjust to.
“I’m really happy with my decision to come here. I love my teammates. I love the style of ball we play here and I’m hoping we can do some good things this season. We all know we've still got a lot of areas to improve in, especially on the defensive end of the floor.”
FSU wiped out an early 2-0 deficit with a 17-2 run and never looked back en route to the victory. The Falcons shot 56.5 percent from the field (35-of-62), opened a 19-point lead at the break and outrebounded Maryland Bible, 39-28.
“I think a lot of us were nervous out there at the beginning of the game, but we settled in pretty quickly and got it going,” said FSU junior college transfer Terrence Green, a 6-3 guard/forward who finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals in his Falcon debut. “This was a nice win for us, but we’ve still got to pick it up, though, in all areas.
“The number one thing we emphasized this year coming into the season for us to be successful in our league is playing better defense. We still have a lot of work to do in that area. That and being a better rebounding team is crucial for us, but we especially know we've got to do a better job of defending.”
At times FSU did that last night, but on other occasions the Falcons had breakdowns on the defensive end of the floor. Maryland Bible guard Terry Hosley torched Fairmont’s defense for a game-high 26 points, most of which he got taking the ball to the rim. The Eagles also got 12 points and six rebounds from Mike Simon and 11 points from Al Carr.
Joining Custis, Thornton and Green in double figures in the scoring column for FSU were senior forward Dan Bruner, who finished with 11 points and junior forward Mike Henderson, who came off the bench and chipped in 10.
Fairmont also got seven points and a game-high eight assists from junior point guard Erv McFadden and seven points from both Michael Lopez and Ryland Newman.
The Falcons (1-0) return to action tonight in the Classic at 8 p.m. when they battle Urbana University (1-0). The Blue Knights came from behind to edge Glenville State Sunday in the opener, 83-82. GSC (0-1) and Maryland Bible will play this evening's first contest at 6 p.m.
