FAIRMONT, W.Va. – Fairmont State erased a six-point Wheeling Jesuit advantage with 6:30 to play in the second half to come away with a 78-74 victory over the ninth-ranked Cardinals on Wednesday evening inside Joe Retton Arena. Fairmont State turned 18 Wheeling Jesuit turnovers into 23 points on the offensive end.
 
With the win, Fairmont State improves to 6-2 overall, including a 4-1 mark in Mountain East Conference play. WJU suffered its first loss of the season and slips to 7-1 overall, including 4-1 in league play.
 
Following a dunk by Haywood Highsmith to put Wheeling Jesuit up by six (61-55), R.J. Hutcherson quickly answered on the other end with a three-pointer from the corner to cut the WJU lead to just three with 6:20 remaining.
 
Just two and a half minutes later with the score tied at 63-63, Jason Jolly buried a three-pointer to give the Falcons the lead for good. Jolly also drained a three on Fairmont's previous possession to knot the score.
 
With just over a minute to play, Wheeling's Pat Moseh dropped in a layup to cut Fairmont's lead to just a single point, at 70-69. However, Caleb Davis grabbed a huge offensive rebound following a missed three-point attempt and completed the putback to put the Falcons back in front by three (72-69) with 37 seconds remaining.
 
From that point, Fairmont State went 8-of-8 from the free throw line to close the game, holding off any comeback plans the Cardinals had.
 
Jolly led all players in the game with 30 points, recording his third 30-point scoring performance of the season. Jolly went 10-of-20 from the field and hit a trio of three-pointers in the win. Caleb Davis is the only other Falcon to net double-figure scoring, recording a double-double with 14 points with 12 rebounds. FSU also got nine points from Vonte Montgomery and six apiece from Hutcherson and Garrett Cook.
 
Highsmith paced the Cardinals with 23 points and 15 boards. Pat Moseh added 18 points in the setback with Preston Boswell and Jeremiah Wilson adding 14 and 10 points, respectively.
 
The Falcons will now prepare for a matchup with seventh-ranked West Liberty on Saturday evening inside the ASRC. Tip is set for 7:30 p.m.