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With arguably its most important stretch of games this season looming on the horizon this week at the Joe Retton Arena Fairmont State’s men’s basketball team managed to stay focused and take care of business on the road Saturday evening here against West Virginia State at Fleming Hall.
FSU raced to a 10-2 lead less than three minutes into last night’s game and never looked back en route to an 87-70 victory over the Yellow Jackets.
“Losing last Monday at home to Wheeling was a wake-up call for us which we needed,” said FSU senior point guard Malik Stith, who led the Falcons Saturday with 15 points and a career-high nine assists. “Our focus needs to be sharp going into this week of games and the end of the season.
“For us it’s all about focus. We feel like we have one of the best teams in the country, but our focus has to be sharp every game no matter who we’re playing. It’s all business from here on out. We got a great road win tonight. It’s hard to beat a team twice in the same season.”
Fairmont’s focus was indeed sharp Saturday. The Falcons extended their 10-2 lead to as many as 20 late in the first half before settling for a 17-point, 49-32, lead at the break.
In the second half Fairmont again pushed the lead back to 20 before State made a nice run at the Falcons trimming the lead to just nine with 4:05 left to play.
FSU, however, led by Stith closed out the game on a 12-4 tear in the final 3:49 to seal their second win of the year over the Yellow Jackets. Stith scored seven of the final 12 points for the Falcons, who improved to 16-5 overall and to 14-3 in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
As noted the Falcons have three huge games this week at home at the Joe Retton Arena. They entertain seventh-place Pitt-Johnstown (14-8, 11-8) Monday evening at 7:30, third-place Alderson-Broaddus (15-6, 13-4) Thursday night at 7:30 and league-leading and No. 3 ranked West Liberty (22-1, 16-1) Saturday at 4 p.m.
“I told our kids everything in life happens for a reason,” said first-year FSU coach Jerrod Calhoun. “There’s a reason I got the Fairmont State job and there’s a reason we’ve lost certain games this year. You have to learn from your mistakes and setbacks and hopefully move forward and I think we did that tonight. We have to play basketball games for 40 minutes. Nothing less. I hope our guys understand that now.
“Tonight I thought we played for a very, very long period of time extremely hard. That was pleasing to me. We played a lot of guys tonight too and I thought our bench did a great job of giving us good minutes. We’ve got four games in seven days, including three big-time games at home this week so we needed some guys to step up. I hope the community understands how big these games really are for us and comes out to support us. This week is going to be huge for our basketball team.”
Saturday Fairmont once again got a balanced attack to dispose of the Yellow Jackets. Stith led the way with 15 points. Isaac Thornton and Brendan Cooper added 14 points apiece, Chase Morgan finished with 12 and Isaiah Hill contributed 11 points and nine rebounds. Cooper scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. The Falcons shot nearly 52 percent from the field for the game (31-of-60) and had 23 assists on their 31 field goals.
“I think we’re one of the more balanced teams in the league which is great to have,” said Calhoun. “Chase got the start for us tonight because Stevie (Browning) has been having some migraines, but he’s okay. They both played well for us tonight. Really, everybody did.
“Now we’ve got to get ready for a very good UPJ team Monday. They have one of the top point guards in both the league and country in Nick Novak and they’re very good and very well coached.”
FSU will tangle with UPJ, a team the Falcons defeated 85-81 way back at the end of November, Monday at 7:30 p.m.
State, meanwhile, fell to 9-14 overall and to 6-11 in the league with Saturday’s loss. The Yellow Jackets were led by Anton Hutchins’ game-high 22 points. The only other State player to reach double figures was Juan Johnson, who finished with 10 points.
Fairmont State Sports
Falcons find focus, rout State
Stith sparks FSU in road 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
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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
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Caridi challenges FSU to ‘be brave’
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Falcons fall short in tourney championship
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Falcons, State to clash for softball title
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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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