FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Fairmont State held off a late surge by No. 1-ranked West Liberty to hand the visiting Hilltoppers their first loss of the season, 98-97, on Sunday evening inside Joe Retton Arena.
Sunday was the third time in the last four years that West Liberty has come into Joe Retton Arena with a No. 1 national ranking, and Fairmont State has defeated West Liberty in each of those contests (1/17/15, 12/4/16, 1/28/18).
The Falcons also pushed their home winning streak to 33 games with the victory, as FSU improved to 15-5 overall, including 11-3 in Mountain East Conference play this season. West Liberty falls to 18-1 overall (13-1 MEC).
West Liberty outscored Fairmont State 18-7 in the final 6:13 of play, but Dan Monteroso's game-winning shot attempt with just over a second remaining was off the mark to allow Fairmont State to hold on for the win.
Fairmont State quickly jumped out to a 28-11 advantage at the 13:21 mark of the opening half, which was aided by five three-pointers from Fairmont State during the stretch.
Fairmont State maintained a lead of at least nine for the rest of the first half before going to the locker room with a 10-point lead (56-46). West Liberty grabbed some momentum going into the locker room, though, cutting Fairmont's 16-point advantage down to just 10 after back-to-back threes from Tyler Primmer and Luke Dyer as the first half clock expired.
Fairmont led for more than 36 minutes before a 15-2 run by West Liberty allowed the 'Toppers to tie and eventually take their first lead of the game with just 2:29 remaining (94-93). The lead was short lived though, as
Caleb Davis and
Vonte Montgomery dropped in layup on the next two FSU possession to push Fairmont's lead back to three (97-94).
West Liberty cut Fairmont's lead to just one with seven seconds remaining following a layup by Monteroso and free throw by James Griffin, then forced a Fairmont State turnover on the ensuing inbounds pass to set up a chance to win the game with just over five seconds remaining.
However, Fairmont State heavily contest Monteroso's final shot attempt to allow the Falcons to hang on for the victory.
Fairmont State was very efficient on the offensive end of the floor, shooting 49.3 percent from the field (35-of-71) and 44.1 percent from behind the arc (15-of-34). The Falcons also knocked down 13-of-18 free throw attempts and passed out 19 assists on 35 made baskets.
West Liberty shot over 50 percent from the field (36-of-71), doing most of its damage driving to the basket (50 points in the paint). The Hilltoppers went 9-of-21 from behind the arc (42.9%) and also passed out 19 assists on their 36 made baskets.
Fairmont State had five players reach double-figures, led by
Vonte Montgomery with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. The Falcons also got 18 points from
Cole VonHandorf and 16 from
Jason Jolly, with each player knocking down four three-pointers in the victory.
R.J. Hutcherson and Kenzie Melko rounded out the Fairmont State players in double-figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
Monteroso led West Liberty with a game-high 25 points to go with five rebounds and four assists. Brandon Smith also chipped in 21 point off the bench for the Hilltoppers, shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 2-of-2 from three.
Fairmont State will now be idle until Thursday evening when Urbana comes to town for a 7:30 p.m. MEC contest at Joe Retton Arena.
