INDIANA, Pa. — The wait is over.
For the first time since the 1999-2000 season, Fairmont State’s men’s basketball team finds itself back in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The eighth-seeded Falcons (22-7) open play in the Atlantic Regional tonight at 7:30 p.m. against top-seeded Indiana (Pa.) University (28-2) at the Crimson Hawks’ Memorial Field House.
Saturday’s first game at Memorial Field House at 5 p.m. will feature fourth-seeded West Virginia State (28-3) taking on fifth-seeded East Stroudsburg (24-5).
This is FSU’s fifth national tournament appearance in the NCAA Division II ranks, but the first for sixth-year Falcon head coach Tim Murphy. Fairmont State is 4-4 in the D-II Tournament and ironically fell 79-73 to IUP in their last visit to the national event in 2000.
The Crimson Hawks, who are currently ranked second in the nation, are making their ninth appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second in a row. IUP has an overall record of 14-8 in NCAA postseason play including regional titles in 1994, 1995, 2000 and 2002.
Indiana (Pa.) University is led by 6-3 senior guard Thomas Young, who averages 16.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and 6-6 junior forward Darryl Webb, who averages 15.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per outing.
The Crimson Hawks also get 15.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest from 6-9 senior forward Akida McLain, a transfer from Boston College and 10.0 points per game from 6-3 sophomore guard Julian Sanders.
IUP comes into the regional riding a 10-game winning streak. The only two losses of the season for the Crimson Hawks, who are a perfect 15-0 at home this year, came Jan. 10 in double overtime on the road at Cheyney (88-84) and Feb. 7 on the road at Clarion (71-62).
“They’re a very good basketball team. They really have a little bit of everything,” said Murphy of IUP. “Their guards are solid. Young is strong, athletic and he can do a lot of things to hurt you. Their posts are also athletic and kind of wiry. The Webb kid can do a lot of different things for them. He can post you up, he can step out and shoot it and he rebounds the ball very well.
“Their starting five are all pretty good and like I said they can all do a little bit of everything. They can get up and down the court in a fast-paced game or they can play in the halfcourt. One thing we did notice from seeing them on film is they like to post people up with both their inside people and their guards and then pound the ball down inside. That’s an area of concern for us. We know we’ve got to play much better inside than we did last week against Charleston (a 101-90 loss in the WVC Tournament quarterfinals).
“Another key is we absolutely have to rebound the ball against them. That’s our primary concern. If we don’t rebound the ball Saturday it’s going to be a long evening for us.”
Murphy feels another important factor for his squad is to not let the Crimson Hawks jump on his team early in the game.
“We can’t afford to let them pull away from us early on and then have to play catch up the whole game,” he said. “They have a lot of weapons so it’s crucial that we stay within striking distance of them.”
A testament to exactly how strong IUP is as a team this year is the fact that during an exhibition game in the preseason the Crimson Hawks took Division I Georgia Tech to overtime before falling.
“They’ve only lost two games, they’re second in the country and they took Georgia Tech to overtime in an exhibition game so obviously they’re pretty good,” said Murphy. “Our guys, though, are looking forward to the challenge. We’ve had a good week of practice and we seem to have a little extra bounce in our step.
“This is a big deal for our kids and it should be. This is something we’ve had our sights set on and the feeling I get from our guys is they’re not just happy to be in this tournament. We want to go up there, play hard, compete and have a chance to do something special.”
The FSU-IUP winner will face the West Virginia State-East Stroudsburg winner Sunday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Field House.
