#2 Fairmont State def. #7 Glenville State, 77-72 | Box Score
By Duane Cochran for MountainEast.org
WHEELING – Senior guard Zyon Dobbs enjoyed the game of his life and it took every bit of his efforts to help second-seeded Fairmont State eliminate seventh-seeded Glenville State, 77-72, in the quarterfinals of the annual Mountain East Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament here Friday afternoon at WesBanco Arena.
Dobbs scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds to help Fairmont State avenge a pair of regular-season losses to the talented Pioneers and advance to Saturday’s semifinals at 8:30 p.m. The win improved the Falcons to 23-8 on the season. FSU entered the tournament ranked fifth in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Rankings.
“I just felt like as a team we were struggling early to score,” said Dobbs, who scored 18 of his points and tallied six of his rebounds in the crucial second half for Fairmont. “They were playing Zay (FSU’s Isaiah Sanders) physical, they were on our shooters and I felt like they knew what we were going to do. The (driving) lanes were there so I said to myself I’m going to take them.
I also feel like I got some mismatches in the post so I took it there too.
“Briggs (Parris) also shot the ball well for us. He was a great spark for us when he came in. He kept us going.”
Dobbs and Parris combined for 21 of Fairmont’s 34 first-half points and were big reasons the Falcons were able to wipe out a late 10-point lead by the Pioneers and trail by just 36-34 at the break.
“The first time we played them I was out and didn’t play and the second time we played them I probably shot the ball the worst I shot it all year,” said Parris, who finished with a season-high 21 points, 11 of which came in the final 20 minutes. “Honestly, though, I didn’t even think about that. I don’t want to go home.
“I could tell early Zay wasn’t hitting his shot so I knew I needed to step up for this team. To be honest I think they were so intent on not letting Zay score that it opened things up for me.”
Sanders finally got on track in the second half. He finished with 17 points, 10 of which came in the game’s final 10:29 to help Fairmont hold off Glenville. It was Sanders’ 24th straight game in double figures and it marked the 89th time in the last 90 games that the senior has achieved that feat.
The Falcons led by as many as 11 twice in the second half, the last of which occurred with 5:29 to play, but the Pioneers rallied to cut it to four in the waning seconds. GSU, however, was never able to make it a one possession game.
“They’re very good, very well-coached and very competitive,” FSU coach Tim Koenig. “I’m very proud of our guys, especially our physicality. I thought we brought it in the second half and did a much better job of getting on the glass. There was a big rebounding difference in the first half. We closed that in the second half and it played a big role in the outcome of the game.
“Now we get to move on. Any win in this tournament is incredible.”
Glenville, which finished its season at 17-13, got 20 points apiece from Jacquez Yow and Freddie Word. Word, who also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds and dished out a game-high eight assists, was just two assists shy of posting his second triple-double of the season.
The Pioneers had 15 offensive rebounds in the game, but only 13 second-chance points. GSU missed a number of close put-backs in the loss, especially in the second half, which ended up costing the Pioneers.
“It is pretty frustrating to play that hard, battle, be physical and get a lot of offensive rebounds and just nothing goes down or goes your way because it’s just one of those nights,” Yow said. “We missed a lot of second chances, but we never stopped battling.”
The Pioneers shot just 35.8 percent from the field in the loss (24-of-67), including a dismal 6-of-30 from 3-point range (20 percent).
“The reality of it is when you shoot 35 and 20 you’re not going to win very many basketball games,” GSU coach Justin Caldwell said. “The fact that we had a chance, I thought, was a testament to how hard we played.”
Glenville also got 16 points from Jordan Turbo Smith, but he was just 1-of-11 from behind the 3-point arc.
The semifinal appearance will be the fifth straight for Fairmont State. The Falcons won the 2021 MEC Tournament.
#6 Davis & Elkins def. #3 Charleston, 77-72 | Box Score
By Duane Cochran for MountainEast.org
WHEELING – It wasn’t easy, but it was certainly historic and enjoyable for Davis & Elkins College here Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the annual Mountain East Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament at WesBanco Arena.
The sixth-seeded Senators, who joined the Mountain East in 2019, recorded the school’s first-ever win in the league’s tournament eliminating third-seeded University of Charleston, 77-72.
“I so proud of the group because we found a way to win against a really, really good team,” D&E coach Daniel Mondragon said. “We were poised under pressure in the second half. In the first half we executed our game plan about as good as we could have. This is a big-time win for our guys and for our program.”
The victory puts the Senators, who improved to 19-10, in the semifinals of the league tournament Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. against second-seeded Fairmont State (23-8). The Falcons eliminated Glenville State Friday, 77-72.
D&E’s last semifinal tournament appearance came when the Senators were members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2017. Prior to that their last tournament semifinal showing was in the 1959 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
“It’s amazing,” said D&E senior guard Jordan Alexander, who finished with 14 points. “It’s a testament to our season. I think we had a lot of ups and downs. This may sound crazy but as much as I enjoyed the wins, I think I enjoyed the losses more. We’ve been battle-tested. We’ve been through pretty much every game situation possible – from up a lot to possibly losing to down a lot to possibly winning. Those games we lost early in the season, I think, prepared us for this tournament.
“We were up 25 and they came back. We had to really buckle down and lock in on defense as well as offense and we did that today. Like I said, the losses early on in the season prepared us for this moment well.”
In the game’s first 20 minutes D&E was nearly flawless, while UC struggled, playing arguably its worst half of basketball in recent memory. The Senators shot 62 percent from the field, 50 percent from three, out-rebounded the Golden Eagles by 14 and used a 30-10 spurt in the last 10:57 of the half to open what appeared to be a commanding 45-22 halftime advantage.
“We had four days to prepare for them and we went over all of their sets, their habits and what they do and we were focused and locked in on what they were going to do and what we wanted to do,” said D&E junior guard Sam Rolle IV, who led all scorers with 26 points and an MEC Tournament game-tying record six steals. “That’s a credit to our coaching staff.”
UC, on the other hand, made just five of its 27 first half field goals (18.5 percent), including a dismal 1-of-10 showing from long range (10 percent). The Golden Eagles also only had 11 rebounds at the break.
“To be totally honest with you I just didn’t think I did a very good job,” said veteran UC coach Dwaine Osborne. “Some of the play calling was terrible. I didn’t put us in some very good situations to do what we needed to do to be effective. At the end of the day that falls on me so I have to shoulder that and live with that.”
The second half, however, was a different story. UC, which holds the record for the largest second-half comeback in MEC Tournament history (11 points) nearly pulled off a miracle. By the midway point of the half Charleston had the contest back to a five-point game at 54-49.
“That first half by us was nowhere near what UC basketball is,” said Golden Eagle senior guard Keith Williams. “At halftime we had two choices – lay down or come back and fight. We decided to come back and fight and to do that we knew we had to do it together. We just couldn’t quite get it.
“Hats off to D&E. They stayed strong, continued to play the game and unfortunately we couldn’t come out with a win.”
Once UC got it to five, D&E quickly responded and got the margin back to nine and eventually 12 before the Golden Eagles made another surge. Charleston, which outscored D&E 50-32 in the second half, got within three twice in the final 40 seconds, but could get no closer.
The Senators also got 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds from Breland Walton in the win. It was Walton’s fifth double-double of the season.
Williams paced UC with 17 points, seven rebounds and three steals. The Golden Eagles also got 13 points from Eddie Colbert III and 12 points from both Tyler Eberhart and C.J. Meredith.
The loss ended a streak of three straight appearances by UC in the conference tournament semifinals. The Golden Eagles finished the season with a 19-10 record.
Discussion about this post