* Championship Central
* Purchase Tickets
* Tournament Coverage: Pre-Tournament Game Notes | Quarterfinal Recap

The Matchup
- Third-seeded Fairmont State and second-seeded Charleston will wrap up semifinal Saturday with an 8:15 showdown at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling this evening.
- The winner will advance to take on the winner of today's first semifinal final between top-seeded West Liberty and fourth-seeded West Virginia State.
- Fairmont State leads the all-time series between the Falcons and Golden Eagles, 71-53.
- Dating back to the 2014-15 season, the Falcons have won 10 of the 13 meetings between the programs. The teams split the regular season home-and-home this year, with Fairmont State picking up a 78-72 home win, before UC topping the Falcons 80-71 in the second meeting of the season.
- During the first meeting of the season in Fairmont, the Falcons rallied from a 13-point second half deficit to come away with the win. The Falcons used an 18-4 scoring run to spark the comeback.
Dale Bonner scored 19 points and passed out nine assists in the first meeting of the season against UC, while Cole VonHandorf chipped in 16 points and seven rebounds.
- Drew Rackley scored 20 points in Fairmont, while Devon Robinson added 14 points and 16 rebounds.
- In the second meeting of the season at UC, the Golden Eagles shot 56 percent from the field and used an 18-6 scoring run early in the second half to take the lead for good.
- Bonner scored 24 points in the matchup at UC, while Isaiah Sanders chipped in 21.
- Rackley once against scored 20 points to lead Charleston in the victory.
 
How They Got To The Semifinals
- Fairmont State advanced with a 77-70 win over sixth-seeded Charleston on Friday afternoon, as the Falcons outscored Glenville 13-7 in the final five minutes of play to wrap up the win. The 13-7 run included a 7-0 spurt that was capped by a driving layup by Cole VonHandorf at the 1:18 mark to put the Falcons up eight.
- Fairmont State shot 49 percent from the field, while limiting Glenville to just 37 percent.
- Dale Bonner, the 2020 MEC Freshman of the Year paced the Falcons with 24 points, five rebounds and five assists. Kenzie Melko-Marshall added 22 points and seven rebounds, while Isaiah Sanders chipped in 15 points and five steals.
- Sanders was one steal away from tying the MEC Tournament record of six steals in a single game.
- Charleston was the first to punch its ticket to the semifinals with a 71-59 win over West Virginia Wesleyan in Friday's 12 p.m. matchup. Devon Robinson recorded a double-double for the Golden Eagles with 24 points and 12 rebounds. Seth O'Neal (15) and Lamont McManus (12) also reached double-figures for UC.
- Through the first two rounds of the MEC Tournament, the top seeds have won every matchup.
 
At The MEC Tournament
- Since the league began competition in 2014, Fairmont State is 7-6 in the Mountain East Conference Tournament. Former head coach Jerrod Calhoun has a 5-4 record in the tournament, while Joe Mazzulla went 1-2 during each of the last two seasons. Tim Koenig went to 1-0 after Friday's victory over Glenville State.
- Fairmont Stat has never had lower than the fourth seed, and has had a top three seed in each of the last five seasons.
- The Falcons have advanced to the semifinal round five times in seven years, with a pair of championship game appearances. Glenville State defeated Fairmont State in the MEC finals back in 2015, 65-58, and West Liberty topped the Falcons in the championship in 2017 (67-65).
- This will be the second time the Falcons and Golden Eagles have met in the MEC Tournament. The Falcons defeated the Golden Eagles, 76-64, in the quarterfinal round in 2017.
- Fairmont State head coach Tim Koenig is 9-4 in six Mountain East Conference Tournament appearances (five at NDC). Koenig led NDC to the 2019 championship title, and the team also made a second finals appearance in 2016 – losing to Concord 70-64. Koenig has never lost a semifinal game in the MEC Tournament (2016, 2019).
 
Noteworthy
- Twenty of Fairmont State's 29 games this season have been decided by a single-digit margin, including 11 that were decided by three points or less. In games decided by three-or-less points, the Falcons are 9-2 this season.
- Kenzie Melko-Marshall (994) and Cole VonHandorf (988) are both closing in on 1,000 points in their Fairmont State careers. If the duo were to reach 1,000 career points during the MEC Tournament, they would be the 51st and 52nd players in program history.
- With last Saturday's win over Frostburg State, head coach Tim Koenig wrapped up the best regular season record for any first-year head coach in the program's history at 22-6. Joe Mazzulla went 21-7 during his first regular season with the program, and Jerrod Calhoun went 19-7 in his inaugural regular season. Calhoun's 23 wins in 2012-13 is the most by a first-year head coach at Fairmont State (including postseason).
- Koenig matched Calhoun's 23 wins with Fairmont State's quarterfinal win over Glenville State on Friday. Koenig would set a new program high for wins by a first-year head coach with a victory in Saturday's semifinal round.
- Six different players have led the Falcons in scoring this season (Cole VonHandorf, Kenzie Melko-Marshall, Dale Bonner, Ilisa Washington, Isaiah Sanders and Przemyslaw Golek).
- Fairmont State shot over 50 percent from the field in 12 games this season. The Falcons are 11-1 in those games.
- The Falcons recorded double-digit steals in 11 games this season, during those games Fairmont State is 10-1.
- Five players are shooting over 80 percent from the free throw line this season (Cole VonHandorf, Kenzie Melko-Marshall, Isaiah Sanders, Ilisia Washington, Steven Solomon).