LAKEWOOD, N.J. -- The Fairmont State University men's basketball team played once more before the holiday break against Georgian Court University. The Falcons were able to bounce back with a road win over the Lions, 69-63.
David Jolinder led the Falcons with 20 points as he also grabbed 11 rebounds on the afternoon.
Rudy Fitzgibbons scored 19 points with an additional 17 from
Taj Thweatt. As a team, the Falcons won the battle of the boards with 47 rebounds compared to 32 for the Lions.
The deep ball was working for Fairmont State (10-1) early as
Rudy Fitzgibbons and
Taj Thweatt both hit threes to take an early 6-0 lead. Georgian Court (2-10) responded with two threes of its own to even the score. Thweatt then completed a three-point play to give the lead back to the Falcons, 9-6, with 16:12 left in the first half.
Georgian Court tied the game again as the two teams started to match each other. Just under the half way point of the first, FSU went on a 8-1 run with four points from
David Jolinder during the stretch. The visitors were able to expand the lead to 13 (36-23) after a Jolinder layup with just 1:17 left in the half. The Lions scored the final four points of the half as the Falcons led 36-27 going into the locker room.
Out of the locker room, Fairmont State opened its lead with the first four points of the half. After a layup by the Lions,
Andre Harris put back his own rebound before Fitzgibbons hit another three as FSU led 45-29 with 18:01 on the clock.
GCU did not back down as it went on a 14-1 run to make it a three-point game (46-43) just under six minutes later.
Tommy Williams provided the next five points for the Falcons but the Lions stayed only a couple of field goals behind.
Over the final 10-plus minutes of regulation, Georgian Court kept narrowing the lead to a single-point but Fairmont State remained in front with timely field goals or free throws. With just 1:17 left in the game, the Lions hit a three to cut the difference to one (64-63) but that was their final points of the game. The Falcons scored the final five points to assure the six-point road win.
At the free throw line, the Falcons made 22 of their 28 attempts as the team also scored 15 points on the fast break. In the paint, FSU scored 32 of its 69 total points.
Fairmont State will be off for the next 10 days before hitting the hardwood in Joe Retton Arena on Thursday, January 2 against Carlow University. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
