By Duane Cochran
FAIRMONT — On paper, Monday night’s game with visiting Urbana University in the Global Science & Technology Fairmont State University Tip-Off Classic at the Joe Retton Arena certainly left a lot to be desired.
However, in the only stat column which counts the Falcons came up big.
FSU overcame an 18-rebound deficit on the boards, a horrid free throw shooting performance and some poor field goal shooting in the opening half to record a 74-60 win over the Blue Knights.
The victory improved the Falcons to 2-0 on the year. Urbana fell to 1-1.
“We definitely came out slow and didn’t do a whole lot of things right, especially early on,” said FSU senior forward Dan Bruner, who posted his first double-double of the season with a game-high 17 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. “Luckily we somehow came back late in the first half and took a lead going into the break.
“Our halftime speech, I would say, was a little motivating and got us going. We came out with more intensity in the second half and got into more of a flow both offensively and defensively. They were crashing the boards hard against us. They crashed and crashed and crashed and we eventually started leaking a guy and we found him — Steve (Custis) for a couple of big dunks which kind of got the crowd into it a little more and got us playing harder.”
Urbana outrebounded the Falcons, 60-42, in the game. No less than 31 of the Blue Knights’ rebounds came on the offensive glass. However, Urbana shot a miserable 28.4 percent from the field in the contest (23-of-81) and became somewhat frustrated late in the first half and throughout the second half when FSU switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone.
“It wasn't a pretty game for us, but we came out with a ‘W’ which is the most important thing,” said FSU junior guard/forward Terrence Green, who finished with 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. “They’re a scrappy team. Give them credit. They came out tonight playing to win from the start and they never backed down. We came out a little tentative, but once we got it going we upped our intensity level, got the lead and never looked back.
“The switch to a zone defense was a big key for us. We wanted to slow them down on offense and take them out of what they were doing. They had a couple of good guards who could penetrate and score or kick it out. The zone forced them to shoot more from the outside and the good thing is they were 2-of-25 from 3-point range tonight.”
FSU had a chance to really put the Blue Knights away earlier in the second half, but an 18-of-34 performance (52.9 percent) from the foul line, including a 10-of-23 showing in the second half kept Urbana close.
“We got to the line, but we really didn’t convert on them,” said Bruner, who scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half. “Luckily that didn’t hurt us. We really don’t work on free throws in practice because at this level that should come natural, especially for a team like ours which has a bunch of good shooters. We have to do better at the line, though, especially once we get to league play because a night like we had tonight could easily cost us a game.”
Sophomore guard Steve Custis chipped in 16 points and five rebounds for the Falcons, while true freshman guard Isaac Thornton added 11 points.
Urbana was led by Justin Tyson’s double-double outing. He finished with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds off the bench. The Blue Knights also got 11 points and 11 rebounds from Vitas Naudziunas and 11 points from T. R. Ellis.
FSU will be idle now until Tuesday, Nov. 24 when it hosts Salem International in a 7:30 p.m. game at the Joe Retton Arena as part of a doubleheader with the Lady Falcons, who entertain Salem at 5:30 p.m. Those games were originally scheduled to be played at Salem, but now have been moved to Fairmont.
