ELKINS, W.Va. -- Fairmont State Men's Basketball came back from a two-point halftime deficit against Davis & Elkins to pick up the 80-66 victory in their Mountain East Conference opener.

The Fighting Falcons are now 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in MEC play while D&E falls to 1-2 on the year and 0-1 in conference action.

Isaiah Sanders guided the Falcons to their fourth straight win to start the 2021-22 campaign as he had 29 points on 10-19 shooting from the floor. Cole VonHandorf followed with 16 points and collected three rebounds. Zyon Dobbs pocketed a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. Briggs Parris joined his fellow teammates with 11 points to round out the Falcons in double digits.

The Falcons claimed an early 10-3 lead before Davis & Elkins went on an 8-0 run to give the Senators the one-point edge with 14:48 to play in the first half. Fairmont State picked up the offensive intensity as Sanders gave the Falcons a three-point cushion off a three-pointer at the 12:42 mark in the first half.

VonHandorf grabbed a layup to add to his team totals and push the lead for Fairmont State to nine with 7:54 left until the halftime break. VonHandorf made another basket to push the lead to double figures before the Senators went on another nine-point run to cut the Falcon lead to 31-29.

Brendan Paul stopped the Senator run with a three pointer and Sanders kicked in a jumper on back-to-back possessions to grow the lead back to seven points for the Falcons. The Senators would not go away as they answered with nine consecutive points for the second time of the half and went into the half up 38-36 inside the McDonnell Center.

Out of the break, Przemslaw Golek made a jumper from beyond the arc to put the Falcons ahead 39-38 with 19:13 left in regulation. Davis & Elkins regained the lead at 44-43 and a layup from DJ Henderson had the Senators in front at 48-43 with 14:16 remaining in the second half.

The Falcons answered with eight straight points of their own to build a three-point lead after a three from Parris at the 12:28 mark. Kyle Whippen collected two baskets on back-to-back possessions for the Maroon and White as Fairmont State seized a nine-point edge over the Senators.

The Senators got within four points of the Falcons before timely free throws from Sanders and VonHandorf built the lead back to seven. Parris hit another three for Fairmont State as the Falcons came away with the 80-66 victory to start conference play.

On the evening, the Falcons were 41.2% (28-68) from the floor with seven made three-pointers and were 17-18 from the charity stripe. Fairmont State held the slight edge in points in the paint over Davis & Elkins (36-30) with the Falcons turning the Senators over 17 times in the day.

The Senators shot the ball at a 35.3% clip (24-68) and were 8-27 (29.6%) from deep. Sam Rolle IV had a team-high 18 points with Breland Walton following with 16 in the contest. Evan Busby had 10 points for D&E as well.

Fairmont State Men's Basketball (4-0, 1-0 MEC) returns to Joe Retton Arena on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip with West Virginia Wesleyan (1-3, 0-1 MEC).