By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- The past month and a half has been a struggle for Jason Jolly. Fairmont State's talented point guard has battled to find his shooting touch.
 
However, in the biggest game to date for FSU Jolly's shooting stroke returned and it couldn't have happened at a better time.
 
Jolly, a 5-7 sophomore from Ashburn, Va., scored a career-high 28 points, 21 of which came off of seven 3-point field goals to help lead top-seeded Fairmont State to an impressive 86-68 victory over eighth-seeded Rollins University in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight here Wednesday afternoon at the Stanford Pentagon.
 
The victory improved Fairmont State to 33-2 on the year and set the school record for the most wins in a single season. It also earned FSU its first-ever berth in the NCAA Division II Final Four where it will face fourth-seeded Bellarmine (Ky.) University on Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET). The Knights (32-3) extended their nation-leading winning streak to 19 games Wednesday when they eliminated fifth-seeded Colorado Mines, 92-72. The Orediggers finished their season with a 30-5 record.
 
Jolly's seven 3-point field goals, which was just one shy of the tying the Elite Eight single-game record of eight, were huge for Fairmont State which saw an exclusive zone defense from the Tars and were forced to play 31 of the game's 40 minutes without first-team All-American Matt Bingaya, who battled foul trouble the whole contest and finished with a season-low four points.
 
"We have strength in numbers," Jolly said. "I have struggled shooting this season, especially here lately, but other guys like Sham (Shammgod Wells) and Vonte (Montgomery) and others have picked up the slack and played well. Today with Matt battling foul trouble and struggling and Thomas (Wimbush) not shooting the ball particularly well it was my turn to pick up the slack and fortunately I was able to make shots."
 
Jolly connected on three straight 3-pointers midway through the first half which got him going. That also helped FSU, which never trailed in the contest, open a 33-21advantage with 7:26 to go in the first half. Rollins, though, didn't fold. Instead, the Tars responded by closing out the first half on a 20-9 run to make it 42-41 Fairmont at the half.
 
The game remained close until Bingaya picked up his questionable fourth foul with 16:47 to play and Fairmont leading by five. He went to the bench and ended up never having to return because his somewhat angered teammates took control of the situation at hand and consequentially the Tars as well.
 
Over the course of the next six minutes Fairmont led by Jolly and Montgomery, who finished with 21 points, 13 of which came came in the game's final 17 minutes, outscored Rollins 22-8 to open a 19-point lead with 10:44 to play. After that the Tars never got any closer than 16 points for the remainder of the game.
 
"I got a little ticked off," Montgomery said. "I think we all did. It brought us together and made us play harder."
 
Fairmont's relentless defensive pressure produced 18 Rollins' turnovers and the Falcons parlayed those mistakes into 26 points. FSU, which won the battle on the boards 43-34, also held the Tars to just five made 3-point field goals, four of which came in the first half. Rollins came into the contest averaging 10 makes per contest from behind the arc.
 
"We made a couple of adjustments at halftime and went to our 1-2-2 press there a couple of times in the second half and got some steals off of it and I think we eventually wore them down," FSU coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "That's just who we are. We're a pressing team. We're a high energy team. We're a trapping team and we're a running team.
 
"The game was very stagnant the last four minutes of the first half and that's not how we want to play. We got more run outs in the second half and got the game going more downhill. We dictated the tempo of the game a little better in the second half."
 
Thomas Wimbush joined Jolly and Montgomery in double figures for Fairmont State with his fifth double-double performance of the season. He finished with 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. FSU also got seven points from D'Ondre Stockman, five points and five assists from Shammgod Wells and nine rebounds, two points and a pair of blocks from Trevor Andrews-Evans.
 
Rollins, which saw its 11-game winning streak come to an end with the loss, finished its season at 24-11. The Tars were led by Sam Philpott's 22 points. Jeff Merton chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds, while Eric Castaneda finished with 11 points and Joey Galvis contributed 10.
 
"They gave us problems early in the game, but this is really a resilient bunch that I have," Calhoun said. "These kids are really tough-minded kids. We played the game without our All-American. Most of our offense throughout this year has run through Matt Bingaya and that's a great testament to our depth and to guys like Jason (Jolly), Vonte (Montgomery) and some of the other guys who stepped up today for us.
 
"We have a lot to be proud of. We now have the most wins in school history and we're in the Final Four for the first time since our program went to Division II. We came out here with the mindset of let's get to 1-0. We've done that all year. We're happy to advance, but we know it's only going to get harder."
 
Fairmont State and Bellarmine have met two times in the past since 2013 and the Knights emerged victorious in both of those games.