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West Virginia State University Athletics

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MBB2223 Jordan
Photo: Todd Griffith
99
Fairmont St. FairSt 5-1,3-1 MEC
101
Winner West Virginia St. WVSt 7-0,4-0 MEC
Fairmont St. FairSt
5-1,3-1 MEC
99
Final
101
West Virginia St. WVSt
7-0,4-0 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 OT 1 F
Fairmont St. FairSt 45 46 8 99
West Virginia St. WVSt 44 47 10 101

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | James Garcia, Sports Information Director

No. 25 Yellow Jackets clip No. 12 Fairmont State in overtime to stay undefeated

INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The No. 25 West Virginia State University men's basketball team (7-0, 4-0 MEC) handed No. 12 Fairmont State (5-1, 3-1 MEC) its first loss of the season on Saturday night in front of a raucous crowd at the Walker Convocation Center. The Yellow Jackets tied the score at 91-all with seven seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime and then won it by a final score of 101-99.

WVSU is still undefeated on the season with a seven-game winning streak and will surely move up in the national rankings next week after defeating the nationally-ranked Falcons. West Liberty is the only other undefeated team left in the Mountain East Conference. State currently tops the MEC standings with the Hilltoppers having a game in hand.

Junior forward Noah Jordan continued his rise after returning from injury last week and led the Yellow Jackets in scoring with a season-high 24 points. He shot 4-of-8 from three-point range, grabbed seven rebounds and swatted away two blocks. Guards Taevon Horton and Samier Kinsler also contributed to the scoring effort with 17 and 16 points, respectively. Meanwhile, junior forward Malik Whitaker registered his fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 boards. He is currently ranked in the top 10 in Division II in double-doubles.

Fairmont went up 11-2 before the first media timeout of the game to make the Yellow Jackets doubt if they were up to the task of knocking off the No. 12 team in the country. That lingering doubt soon dissipated as WVSU came out of the timeout and went on a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to a single point, 13-12. Horton lit the fire with a pair of buckets before Aboubacar Cisse and Bunky Brown each hit three-pointers to close the gap.

State trailed the Falcons closely from the 12-minute mark of the first half all the way up to the seven-and-a-half minute mark. WVSU finally pulled out in front at that point with three-consecutive treys in a little over a minute to take a 34-31 lead. Jordan made two on each end while Brown hit one in between.

The lead did not last long with FSU scoring eight unanswered over a two-minute stretch to go up by five, 39-34, with 3:26 left to play in the first half. The Yellow Jackets then outscored Fairmont, 10-6, in the remainder of the opening half to go into halftime down by one, 45-44.

The entire second half was played as closely as it can get. The lead changed 16 times before the buzzer went off to signal the end of regulation. WVSU gained its largest lead of the second half with three minutes remaining after going up by four, 85-81. The slight advantage came off an 8-2 run which Kinsler started with a three-point bucket and Dwaine Jones finished with a driving layup.

Scoring then dried up completely for the Yellow Jackets while the Falcons made three treys in a row to go up by five, 90-85, with only 22 seconds showing on the scoreboard. Whitaker was fouled behind the arc with 17 seconds to go and sank all three of his free throws to cut the deficit to two, 90-88. A foul was then committed to send Fairmont to the charity stripe with 14 seconds left. Isaiah Sanders made his first free throw but missed his second. Jones grabbed the rebound and sent the ball upcourt to Horton who nailed the game-tying trey to level the score at 91-apiece with seven seconds remaining. FSU was unable to score on the inbound and the game went into overtime.

Both teams struggled to score in overtime. State gained the early edge after Jones banked a layup and Whitaker dropped in a shot from beyond the arc without a response from Fairmont in the first minute of action. The Falcons made a layup soon after to cut the lead to three points, 96-93, before Jordan ended a nearly two minute long scoring drought with a three-pointer.

FSU responded with a three-pointer of its own with around one minute to go to chop the lead back down to three points, 99-96. Fairmont then missed four treys in the final minute before sending Kinsler to the free throw line. He made both of his free throws with two seconds remaining to put WVSU up by five, 101-96, and seal the victory. The Falcons made a halfcourt shot to give the contest its final score, 101-99.

The Yellow Jackets continued their trend of shooting accurately. They shot 50 percent from the floor and 47 percent from three-point range to pick up yet another win before the new year.

State will play Wheeling at home next on Wednesday, Dec. 7 with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

 
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