Fairmont, W.Va- The Golden Eagle's Men's Basketball team traveled up I-79 to face off against the Fairmont State Falcons on Saturday night. This was big time matchup between two squads who are fighting for the top spots in the conference. Charleston was able to defeat the Falcons early on in the season and they were looking to win the regular season series on the road.
 
The Basics
Location: Joe Retton Arena
Score: UC- 66 FSU- 81
Records: Charleston (14-4, 10-3 MEC) Fairmont State (16-3, 11-3 MEC)
 
How it Happened
 
It was a rough night for the Golden Eagles as they were unable to have one lead the entire night over the Falcons of Fairmont State. Uncharacteristically, Charleston was unable to work any offense early in the game, which led to a 4-17 opening lead for the Falcons. The Golden Eagles were only able to convert a third of their three-point shots in the first half which forced them to try and work their offense within the perimeter. Charleston was also unable to rebound up to their standards, only grabbing 27 on the night which disallowed for second chance points on the offensive side of the ball. Fairmont State was able to score with a well-rounded attack scoring 36 points in the paint and putting up a total of 10 buckets from beyond the arc. At the end of the first half, the Falcons found themselves with the 41-30 lead.


Everything that Fairmont State seemed to put up would fall. The Falcons shot 55% from the field (33-60) and had a tremendous margin in the second half with a 73-45 lead over the Golden Eagles. The game's leading scorer was Fairmont State's Isaiah Sanders, racking in 20 points with four three-pointers. For the Golden Eagles, Jeremiah Keene had tallied in the most points with 14 points and going 2-4 from three-point land. Charleston also had a killer nine turnovers that set them back offensively and were not able to find very many points from the three-point line as they went 6-27 (22.2%) from long range. At the end of the night, just as many had expected after just a few minutes into the second half, the Falcons took the win over Charleston 81-66 to split the regular season series one-a-piece.
 
Up Next: On Monday night, The Charleston Golden Eagles with square off against the Battlers of Alderson Broaddus University on January 31^st at 7:30 p.m. in the Wehrle Innovation Center.