FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The Fairmont State men's basketball team (17-5, 12-4 Mountain East Conference) bounced back with a 92-86 win versus Concord (11-10, 8-8 MEC) on Saturday (Feb. 4) at Joe Retton Arena in Fairmont, W.Va.
 
"It is always huge when you can win games in February," said Fairmont State head coach Tim Koenig. "Concord was able to stay in the game with their rebounding effort and they did a good job crashing the glass. I was pleased with our first-shot defense and how we guarded."
 
The Fairmont State bench stepped up and scored 47 points. Briggs Parris (18), David Jolinder (14) and Tariq Woody (13) all contributed double-figure point totals off of the bench. Isaiah Sanders was the Falcons' leading scorer with 20 points and blocked a pair of shots. Sanders (3), Zyon Dobbs (4), Fonz Hale (2) and Jolinder (2) led the defensive effort that helped the Falcons' defense force 14 steals and 19 Concord turnovers. Hale handed out a team-leading six assists and scored 12 points.
 
Concord won the rebounding margin by 18 boards, which led to 19 second-chance points and made four more field goals than the Falcons. The Mountain Lions struggled at the free-throw line and missed 13 shots at the charity stripe, going 14-for-27. The Falcons shot 26-of-32 from the line and knocked down 12-of-24 three-point attempts.
 
Parris stepped in front of a Mountain Lions' pass that set up a hook shot by Woody to put Fairmont State ahead 11-7 at the 14:27 mark in the first half. Jolinder powered his way to a three-point play that increased the Fairmont State lead to seven. Parris hit his first three on a fastbreak to push the Falcons' lead to eight with 12:42 in the half. Parris connected on his second three-pointer at the 2:52 mark that gave the Falcons their first double-digit lead of the game. The Falcons continued to go with the hot hand, as Parris struck again with another long-range shot that gave the Falcons their biggest lead of the game, a 40-27 advantage. Concord regrouped and managed to trim the Fairmont State lead to six points in the final two minutes of the first half.
 
CU scored the first three points of the second half and closed the gap to one possession. Seth Younkin made a layup that stopped the Concord run and put Fairmont State up by five. Jolinder drove the lane for a deuce and the Falcons led by 10 points with 14:29 in the second half. Parris knocked down another three-pointer for his 15^th point of the evening and the Falcons led 60-49 midway through the second half. A Jolinder steal and dunk increased the Fairmont State lead to 12 points at the 10:03 mark. Concord came within five points several times in the final 10 minutes of play. A six-point Fairmont State scoring run that featured a George Mangas layup, a pair of Jolinder free throws and a Sanders second-chance layup was critical in fending off the Mountain Lions. Fairmont State secured a six-point home victory.
 
The Fairmont State men's basketball team will face Notre Dame (Ohio) on Wednesday (Feb. 8) inside Joe Retton Arena at 7:30 p.m.