By Duane Cochran
FAIRMONT — It’s a safe bet West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore had no idea before Thursday night’s game with Fairmont State at the Joe Retton Arena who the Falcons’ Chris Talley even was.
He does now and so do the more than 1,500 fans at the game last night who saw FSU coach Tim Murphy roll the dice so to speak and start his seldom-used junior college transfer at the point guard position.
The move paid huge dividends for the Falcons as Talley, a 6-1, 195-pound junior from Easley, S.C., scored an FSU career-high 20 points to help lead Fairmont State to 100-85 upset victory over the first-place Yellow Jackets.
The win improved FSU to 15-3 overall and to 10-3 in the league. With the victory Fairmont secured its fourth-place standing in the West Virginia Conference.
State, on the other hand, fell to 15-3 overall and to 11-2 in the league. The loss cost the Yellow Jackets first place in the conference standings as they fell to second behind West Liberty University which toppled Alderson-Broaddus last night in West Liberty, 89-82.
FSU recruited Talley because the Falcon coaches wanted a big, physical guard who could defend, handle the ball and create some mismatches. However, up until last night Talley had trouble getting off the Falcon bench and when he did he didn’t stay in games very long.
Prior to Thursday, Talley had appeared in 13 of Fairmont’s 17 games and was averaging just 3.1 points and 8.4 minutes of action. Last night, though, that all changed. With starting point guard Erv McFadden lost for the season with a torn ACL, Talley got the call and responded. He went 8-of-12 from the field, grabbed three rebounds, handed out two assists and played a season-high 36 minutes.
His play helped FSU gain control of the contest early and keep it for 35 of the game’s 40 minutes.
“It was a big game for us,” said Talley. “Coach was talking about it all week. We knew how important this one was for us and with Erv being injured he turned to me and I knew I had to step up and make some plays for us.
“I was really excited when I found out I was starting. I’ve tried to be patient, but tonight I knew it was time. I just came out and tried to play hard.”
Talley wasn’t the only Falcon who played hard Thursday night. It took a total team effort to get State back on its heels and keep the Yellow Jackets there for most of the night. Steve Custis chipped in a career-high 32 points in the victory for FSU, 20 of which came in the second half after Fairmont had built a 52-33 lead at the break.
“We were determined to win tonight and play a full 40 minutes of basketball and I think we did that,” said Custis. “We left it all out there on the floor tonight.
“A lot of people were talking before the game and saying we couldn’t win and blah, blah, blah and stuff like that and we wanted to prove them wrong.”
The Falcons certainly did just that. Freshman guard Isaac Thornton added 20 points and eight rebounds in the victory, while junior guard/forward Terrence Green posted a double-double finishing with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. He also led FSU with four assists, three blocks and added a couple of steals for good measure.
“The Shepherd loss Monday was a disappointing one for us because I felt like it was my fault and our big men’s fault because they dominated us on the glass,” said Green. “We were determined not to let that happen tonight. We wanted to control the boards and we were able to do that. Our goal was also to out-hustle them and for the most part I think we did.”
FSU held a 43-32 advantage on the boards. The Falcons also shot 56.9 percent from the field (37-of-65) for the game, including a scorching 67.9 percent (19-of-28) in the second half. FSU also exploited State’s defense in the paint where the Falcons outscored the Yellow Jackets, 50-18.
“This was a very big win for us because they were the number one team in the conference and we knew tonight we had to have a great effort from everyone,” said Thornton, who scored 16 of his points in the first half.
“We had a lot of people play well for us and when we play like we did tonight we feel like we can compete with anyone. Chris Talley came up huge for us. He’s a good player and tonight he got his chance and really made the most of it. His play was a big key to this win for us.”
The victory overshadowed the tremendous individual effort of ultra-talented State guard Josh “Cookie” Miller, who finished with a game-high 38 points before leaving the contest with 4:30 remaining and his team trailing by 24. The 5-7 Miller was 12-of-21 from the field, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. He also went 10-of-11 at the foul line and for a long period of time single-handedly kept the Yellow Jackets within striking distance.
The only other State player to finish in double figures was Darren Jones, who ended up with 19 points, 15 of which came in the second half.
FSU will return to action Saturday when it hosts fifth-place Charleston in another very important WVC showdown at 4 p.m. at the Joe Retton Arena.
