Coming into Thursday's game against No. 2 Fairmont State, West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore knew that things could get tough if his group tried to play at the same pace as the Falcons.
And after hanging around for the majority of the first half, Fairmont State's full-court pressure was able to get to West Virginia State - forcing the Yellow Jackets into 26 turnovers to run away with a 108-72 victory.
"That's a really good team, they've got all the pieces," West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore said. "We did a nice job at the beginning, but we got a little bit fatigued and got into foul trouble and they're hard to beat anyway but especially when those things happen and you're undermanned."
The defeat was the seventh consecutive loss for the Yellow Jackets (6-19, 3-16 Mountain East Conference) while improving the Falcons to 24-1 overall and 18-1 in league play.
West Virginia State started slowly but rebounded right away in the opening minutes to use a 9-2 run to take the lead. From there the teams traded the advantage back and forth a few more times before Fairmont State jumped ahead and didn't look back.
The Falcons went on the first of several runs to extend their lead, outscoring WVSU 12-2 to get out to a 10-point lead and went ahead by as many as 18 points by the end of the first half.
That lead continued to grow coming out of the break, as FSU led by as many as 41 points with a couple minutes left in the game.
"At the beginning of the game you can handle their pressure because you're still fresh, but it wears on you," Poore said. "It just seemed like we'd turn it over once and it'd bleed over into the next few possessions and then you look up and you're in a tough spot.
"That's what the pressure does. When you leave it on for 40 minutes like they do, it's hard to withstand it."
It was that relentless pressure that allowed Fairmont State to take over and showcase its depth. The Falcons were able to take the 26 turnovers they forced and turned them into 34 points on the other end.
Ten of the 11 players that played for the Falcons scored at least six points and six of those 10 finished in double figures.
The going was tough for a West Virginia State team that was trying to find some momentum to climb out of the hole it found itself in. The Yellow Jackets shot 38.8 percent from the field.
"We took some quick shots when we would break their press, and that just plays right into their hands," Poore said. "When you play against an athletic team like that and you cross halfcourt and just throw up a shot, that's just as bad as a turnover because you still give it right back to them. That made it just deflating."
Tyrie Elliot led West Virginia State, making five 3-pointers for 15 points. Freshman Ernest Jenkins stuffed the stat sheet by scoring 12 points, grabbing six rebounds and handing out seven assists in the loss while Terrance Jenkins also was in double figures with 10 points.
After missing the last seven games with an ankle injury, the Yellow Jackets got point guard Brent Bauer back. The sophomore played 22 minutes in his return after coming back to practice on Wednesday.
Jason Jolly led Fairmont State with a game-high 17 points. Matt Bingaya played just 10 minutes but scored 15 points for the Falcons. Ty Dobson also added 15 while Andrew Emrick, D'Ondre Stockman and Troy Cantrell all scored 10 points each.
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.