BUCKHANNON —
For 26 minutes here Saturday afternoon West Virginia Wesleyan made visiting Fairmont State play its game.
In the final 14 minutes, however, the Falcons turned the tables on the Bobcats and forced them to play their style of ball. The result was FSU’s fifth straight victory and its 10th in 11 outings as it rolled to a 78-67 win.
Fairmont State is now 15-4 overall and 13-2 in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Falcons return home Monday to host Wheeling Jesuit in a 7:30 p.m. game at the Joe Retton Arena.
Trailing 42-36 Saturday in what had been a methodical, halfcourt game until that point, Fairmont got a tough, six-foot turnaround bucket under pressure from Ke’Chaun Lewis at the 14:01 mark to trim the margin to four. After the basket, first-year FSU coach Jerrod Calhoun called timeout and forced the issue with his team putting them in a full-court trapping defense called scramble which essentially changed the tide in the contest.
“We were trying to switch things up there,” said Calhoun. “We needed to create a little havoc. Essentially that’s what we were trying to do.
“We wanted to run and jump a little bit and we got a lot of steals and got the game away from being a halfcourt game, which is what they wanted. Isaac (Thornton) was very active on the ball for us in that defense and Malik (Stith) really did a great job on his rotations. That move really helped us today.”
Indeed it did. Over the course of the next 6:14 with Fairmont’s trapping, full-court defense in place the Falcons outscored the somewhat dazed Bobcats, 21-8, to open a 59-50 advantage.
“Up until that point we were kind of having a bad game,” said Thornton, who finished with a team-high 22 points and five rebounds. “We couldn’t get steals and we weren’t making baskets. They were keeping us in the halfcourt and that’s not our game. We want to get out and run.
“We pressed them, got some steals and that got us going.”
After Fairmont got the lead to nine the Bobcats, who have now dropped five games in a row and fell to 8-10 overall and to 5-9 in the WVIAC, never got any closer than six despite the best efforts of senior center Kelsey Williams, who finished with a game-high 28 points and 10 rebounds.
“They were coming into this one off of four losses, but they’ve been in every game,” said Calhoun. “I think Kelsey Williams is one of the best players in this league. He was a really hard guard for us today. He’s so physical and he can beat you off the bounce.”
Williams accounted for half of the Bobcats’ 36 second-half points, scoring 18 of his 28 points in the final 20 minutes.
FSU, though, was able to offset Williams’ big day with strong outings from Thornton, Brendan Cooper and Isaiah Hill. Cooper joined Thornton in double figures with 17 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds and handed out a team-best six assists. Hill, meanwhile, posted his third double-double of the season finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Thornton, Cooper, Hill and Stith combined for 41 of FSU’s 48 second-half points. Thanks to Hill and Cooper, Fairmont also owned the boards in the contest as the Falcons out-rebounded Wesleyan, 39-27.
“We’re a lot bigger and stronger than they are so coach really got on us about straight-line drives and attacking the rim every time because we’re hard to stop against teams like that when we do that,” said Cooper. “We knew we also had to rebound the ball today and Isaac and I both got a lot of offensive putbacks for us by being aggressive.
“It was a struggle for a while today because we like to get out and run and we weren’t doing that. Once we started pressing, though, that pretty much changed everything.”
Fairmont State Sports
Falcons top Bobcats for fifth straight win
- Fairmont State Sports
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FSU, MVB team up for successful tournament
The Falcons and MVB paired to complete th 21st annual MVB-Fairmont State Athletic Association Golf Tournament at the Bridgeport Country Club on Friday.
Fairmont State’s mission during the event was to sell out, so thar FSU could raise as much money as possible for the athletic department. -
Cobb named Atlantic Player of the Year
Fairmont State’s Chelsea Cobb was named the Daktronics Atlantic Region Player of the Year and outfielder Holly Frampton was a first team all-region selection. Freshman Courtney Iacobacci was a second team all-region selection.
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Three Falcons earn All-WVIAC honors
Thee Fairmont State University baseball players earned All-West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors, the league announced Wednesday.
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FSU sweeps major WVIAC softball honors
Fairmont State University’s softball program took home all four major postseason awards given out by the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
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Caridi challenges FSU to ‘be brave’
Tony Caridi’s message Saturday evening to Fairmont State University’s student athletes, coaches, administration, alumni and friends was simple, yet very compelling, especially during this time of change in Falcon athletics.
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Falcons fall short in tourney championship
West Virginia State defeated Fairmont State, 3-1, in game two of the WVIAC Tournament Finals to clinch the WVIAC Tournament Championship. FSU picked up a 4-1 victory early in the day to force a second game.
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Falcons, State to clash for softball title
Fairmont State University and West Virginia State softball teams will clash today for the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Championship.
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COLUMN: Davis, Monroe set to lead FSU
As early impressions go, Garrett Davis could not have made more of a favorable one in the eyes of Jason Woodman.
Woodman, Fairmont State’s first-year head football coach and a Marion County native, certainly knew about the senior middle linebacker before he even took the gig last December. -
Falcon ‘D’ shines in 40-18 win: PHOTOS
As spring games go, Fairmont State University’s annual Maroon-White contest Thursday evening at Duvall-Rosier Field ran pretty much to form.
Using a modified scoring system that awarded points to the defense for turnovers and stops, the Falcons’ Maroon (defensive unit) came up with three turnovers and a number of stops to roll to a 40-18 victory over the White (offensive unit) in front of more than 500 fans eager to get their first glimpse of the new-look Falcons. -
N.C. point guard signs with Falcons
Fairmont State might have its point guard of the future.
Second-year head coach Jerrod Calhoun announced his first signing for the 2013-14 season on Thursday, as the program welcomed North Carolina standout Caleb Davis into the Falcon family. - More Fairmont State Sports Headlines
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