By Duane Cochran
For the Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT — When the announcement came Sunday evening, Steve Custis was the first Fairmont State player to leap from his seat.
The Falcons’ sophomore guard and leading scorer (16.7 ppg) was grinning from ear to ear after it was revealed that his team had made the field of 64 for the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament and he personally made the rounds in Multi Media Room A of the FSU Library giving each one of his teammates high fives as they watched the annual D-II Tournament selection show.
“Obviously, I was very excited we got in the tournament,” said Custis, who has battled back from a knee injury which cost him five games late in the season. “We’ve got a chance now and that’s all we could ask for. To advance further in the tournament you first have to be selected for the tournament. I just want us to make the most of this opportunity because there was a time when it looked like we might not get it.”
The 22-7 Falcons have tough task ahead of them. FSU enters the Atlantic Regional as the No. 8 seed and will face top-seeded Indiana (Pa.) University (28-2) Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. on the Crimson Hawks’ home court — Memorial Field House — a place where IUP is a perfect 15-0 this season.
“We’re excited to make the tournament, but we’re not a team which is just happy to be there,” said FSU junior guard/forward Terrence Green, who averages 12.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. “We feel like we’ve got something to prove. We weren’t happy with the way we played in the quarterfinals of our league tournament against Charleston so this week in practice we’ve gone back to square one and day one where we’re really working on blocking out, playing defense and attacking the basket. We know we’ve got to play at a high level Saturday night.”
IUP, which is currently ranked second in the nation, enters Saturday’s opening-round tournament game against FSU riding a 10-game winning streak. The Crimson Hawks defeated Kutztown 84-73 to claim the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament championship and earn the league’s automatic berth into the D-II Tournament. This is Indiana’s ninth national tournament appearance. The Crimson Hawks are 14-8 in the D-II Tourney, have claimed four regional titles and have a pair of victories in this event over FSU (84-83 in 1996 and 79-73 in 2000).
The Falcons, on the other hand, have struggled down the stretch. After starting the season 19-3, Fairmont stumbled, going just 3-4 in its last seven games.
“We know we’re fortunate to get in and now we want to do something with this chance,” said FSU backup point guard Ryland Newman. “A key for us is we've got to play together. No one person for us can shoulder the load. We’ve all got to contribute on offense, we all have to play solid defense and we all have to crash the boards. We know we’re facing a good team, but we feel like we’re a pretty good team too.”
Fairmont does have a number of quality wins this season. FSU is 2-2 against teams this year in the Atlantic Regional. The Falcons dropped a pair of games to No. 2 seed West Liberty, the regular-season West Virginia Conference champions who are 27-2 overall this year and will face seventh-seeded Alderson-Broaddus (24-6) in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional Saturday in West Liberty.
FSU, however, does have an 86-83 win over Alderson-Broaddus and an impressive 100-85 victory over fourth-seeded West Virginia State (28-3) this season. The Yellow Jackets, who won the recent WVC Tournament title with a thrilling 108-107 win over West Liberty, will face fifth-seeded East Stroudsburg (24-5) in Saturday’s opening round at IUP.
“We’ve faced a lot of good teams this season and we’ve beaten some very good teams,” said FSU junior point guard Chris Talley, who has come on late in the season and averages 7.2 points per outing for the Falcons. “IUP is very good, but their style of play is a little different than the style of play we’re used to in our league.
“We know Saturday is going to be a whole new challenge for us. We’re facing a team we’ve not faced before but we’re looking forward to that challenge. This is a chance for us to make a name for ourselves at the national level.”
