SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The Fairmont State men's basketball team, which already made team history by just playing Thursday night, made even more with a huge win.
The Falcons, in the program's first NCAA Division II national semifinal, will play in the program's first national title game after upending Bellarmine 79-68 in the semifinals Thursday.
Fairmont State (33-2) will face the winner of the other semifinal between Northwest Missouri State and Lincoln Memorial at 3 p.m. Saturday. Northwest Missouri State and Lincoln Memorial tipped off at 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Results of that game were not available at press time.
The Falcons got a game-high 23 points from D'Ondre Stockman, who went 5 of 6 from 3-point range and 8 of 10 from the floor overall. The 3-pointer was crucial for Fairmont State as the Falcons made 13 of 28 from beyond the arc, compared to 4 for 17 for Bellarmine (32-3).
Bellarmine led just once during the game, at 2-0 on George Knott's layup 36 seconds into the game. Fairmont scored the next eight points and kept running away from Bellarmine. The Falcons led by as many as 23 in the first half and, though Bellarmine was able to cut that lead to 61-53 with 9:03 left on Rusty Troutman's 3-pointer, that was the closest it would come.
Troutman and Adam Eberhard each scored 15 points to lead Bellarmine. Jason Jolly scored 16 points with five assists for Fairmont State.