WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. -- #18 Fairmont State Men's Basketball put up 60 points in the second to upset #8 West Liberty, 100-97, inside West Liberty's "ASRC". Zyon Dobbs led the charge for the Fighting Falcons with 25 points in 10-15 shooting.

Fairmont State extends their win streak to six games as the Falcons are now 13-2 on the season and 8-2 in Mountain East Conference play. WLU falls to 14-2 on the year and 8-2 in MEC action. Fairmont State also hands the Hilltoppers their first loss at home on the season.

The Falcons shot the ball well in both halves going 33-58 (56.9%) from the field and collected nine three-pointers in the contest. Fairmont also went 25-33 from the free-throw line on Saturday night.

Isaiah Sanders started the contest with a free throw as West Liberty was given an administration technical foul as the Falcons enjoyed the one-point lead prior to tip-off. Dobbs made the score 4-0 in favor of Fairmont State after a deep three-pointer, but the Hilltoppers quickly took the lead after back-to-back threes from Viktor Kovacevic and Malik McKinney. WLU pushed the margin to seven points before Fairmont State cut the deficit to two points at the 15:14 mark in the first half. Over the next eight minutes of play, West Liberty turned the pace in their favor and staked to a 14-point lead at 40-26 with 7:05 remaining in the first half. The Hilltoppers enter the halftime break leading 55-40 after three free-throw makes from Cole VonHandorf and Seth Younkin.

Out of the break, Sanders, and George Mangas scored back-to-back baskets to cut the Hilltopper lead to 11 points at the 19:10 mark. The Falcons continued to hang in the second half with West Liberty as the Falcons used four consecutive free-throw makes after a technical foul on WLU's Kovacevic with 16 minutes remaining in the second half. West Liberty rapidly pushed the advantage to a game-high 19 points after a layup from Bryce Butler.

Younkin continued his strong play in the paint as he secured two points via a layup at the 8:54 mark as the Falcons continued to pressure the Hilltoppers. At the 4:55 mark in the second half, Sanders picked up an and-one opportunity after a made basket to trim the deficit at 87-83 in favor of West Liberty. On the next offensive possession, Briggs Parris cut WLU's lead to one point after a three. The Hilltoppers responded with a three-pointer from Marlon Moore to regain the four-point margin. Sanders had the answer with a three-point of his own with 3:05 left to play at West Liberty.

Sanders once again used an old fashion three-point play to knot the score at 92 apiece and tied the contest once again at the charity stripe at 94 with 1:11 remaining. West Liberty retook the lead after a made free throw from Kovacevic, but Dobbs floated in the go-ahead basket for the Falcons with 37 seconds remaining.

The Fighting Falcons controlled the remainder of the game as Sanders pushed the lead back to three points at 100-97 and Fairmont State's defense came up big to secure the victory.

In addition to Dobbs' 25 points, six Falcons including Dobbs scored double-digits points with Sander using a big second half to register 24 points in the contest. VonHandorf added 16 points, four rebounds and three assists as Younkin collected another double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Dobbs earned a 
double-double as well with 11 boards to go along with his 25 points. Parris had four three-pointers to add up to 12 points and Georg Mangas (10 points) earned his fifth straight game with 10 or more points.

For West Liberty, the Hilltoppers shot 46.3% (38-82) from the field as Bryce Butler paced WLU with 23 points. Kovacevic came off the bench for West Liberty to follow his teammate with 19 points as Marlon Moore (18 points) and Pat Robinson (15 points) rounded out the scorers in double-figures for the Hilltoppers.

Fairmont State held the advantage inside with 40 points in the paint to West Liberty's 34. The Fighting Falcons also scored 100 points for the first time this season as the last Fairmont State scored in triple-digits was in the Mountain East Conference championship game with West Liberty, where the Fighting Falcons won 102-99.

#18 Fairmont State (13-2, 8-2 MEC) is back at Joe Retton Arena on Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. when they host Carlow University in a non-conference matchup.