FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Fairmont State pulled away from West Virginia Wesleyan midway through the first half and cruised to a 76-53 win over the Bobcats on Wednesday night at Joe Retton Arena.
 
Fairmont State's win coupled with West Liberty's last second win over Notre Dame College on Wednesday evening locks the Falcons into the No. 2 seed for next week's Mountain East Conference Tournament. The Falcons are now 20-7 overall and 17-4 in MEC play.
 
West Virginia Wesleyan falls to 10-17 overall and 7-14 in the league after the setback.
 
With Fairmont State leading 42-27 at the half, the Falcons had to withstand nearly a seven minute scoring drought to open the second half, which allowed the Bobcats to pull with five (42-37) at the 13:22 mark following a three by Braeden McGrew. Fairmont State's scoring drought came to an end following a layup by R.J. Hutcherson at the 13:02 mark which sparked a 12-5 run by the Falcons that stretched the lead back to double-digits with 9:21 remaining.
 
West Virginia Wesleyan pulled to within seven (54-47) with eight minutes remaining, but a layup by Andrew Emrick and a three by Kenzie Melko pushed the league back to double-digits for good with 7:05 remaining.

R.J. Hutcherson scored a team-high 17 points and had six rebounds and three steals to help the Falcons improve to 20-7 on the year. Cole VonHandorf connected on four three-pointers on his way to 16 points, while Melko chipped in 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Vonte Montgomery pulled down 14 rebounds to go with six points and four assists. 

Fred Brondsted had 17 points to lead WVWC. Dusan Vicentic had 13 more for the Bobcats.
 
The Falcons will close out the regular season on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Shepherd University on senior day.