FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Jason Jolly nailed a pair of free throws with under three seconds remaining to send the game to overtime, and then scored Fairmont State's first eight points in the overtime session to help the third-ranked Falcons outlast Shepherd, 101-91, on Thursday night at Joe Retton Arena.
 
The win, Fairmont State's 10^th in a row, helped the Falcons improve to 16-1 overall and 10-1 in the Mountain East Conference. Shepherd falls to 9-8 overall and 4-7 in the league.
 
The Falcons trailed by as many as 18 in the first half, but stormed back to cut that lead down into single digits before the half ended.
 
After Shepherd stretched its lead back to 15 after a Skyler Roman three at the 14:20 mark of the second half, the Falcons went on an 18-3 run over the next five minutes to tie the game for the first time at 65-65 with 9:35 remaining. The Falcons were finally able to take the lead at the 7:02 mark after Shammgod Wells went coast-to-coast for the transition basket.
 
The game stayed close down the stretch in the second half with FSU taking a two-point lead on a Jamel Morris layup with 48 seconds left. However, Ryan McTavish hit a three to give Shepherd the lead back, and Steffen Davis made a free throw to give SU a two-point advantage with 10 seconds left. Jolly, though, was fouled going to the basket and drained both of his free throws to force the extra period.
 
In overtime, much like the FSU women earlier in the evening, the Falcons outscored the Rams 16-6. Shepherd missed its last six shots from the field and did not score over the final 3:16. Despite the Rams shooting 15-of-30 from three in the game, SU went 0-3 from long range in overtime and the Falcons connected on 4-of-4 from behind the arc in the extra session (Jolly and Jamel Morris each connected on a pair of threes in overtime).
 
Matt Bingaya was 12-of-19 from the field for a career-high 33 points and also pulled down 10 rebounds. Morris finished with 23 and Jolly also recorded a career-best with 21 points, 16 of which came in the second half and overtime. Wells just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine assists.
 
After shooting just 37.9 percent in the opening half, the Falcons shot 51.5 percent from the field in the second half and went a perfect 6-of-6 from the field in overtime. FSU went 11-of-29 from behind the arc (37.9%) on the evening.
 
The Falcons also held a 44-24 scoring margin in the paint and scored 24 points-off turnovers.
 
Shepherd was led by 24 points from Roman and 23 from McTavish. Davis ended the game with 14 and Naim Muhammad had 11 points before fouling out.
 
FSU will now travel to West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon for a 4 p.m. tip against the Bobcats. FSU defeated Wesleyan, 78-61, to open MEC play back in November at Joe Retton Arena.