Of all the nights the West Virginia State men's basketball team could be severely shorthanded, Tuesday was not one of them.
No. 3 Fairmont State was on the other side of the Walker Convocation Center court, and Yellow Jackets Robert Fomby, Keith Harris and Ron Whaley were still suspended for team rule violations. Add to that Brent Bauer's absence due to strep throat, and WVSU was working with an eight-man rotation.
The Yellow Jackets put up a valiant effort, but the Falcons were able to ultimately put them away, FSU prevailing 98-90.
Senior Markee Mazyck scored a team-high 23 points and freshman guard Frank Webb, who played most of the game on a tweaked left knee, added 20, but it wasn't enough to overcome Matt Bingaya's game-high 26 points.
Still, Yellow Jackets coach Bryan Poore had no complaints with the fight his team showed Tuesday night.
"I told them after the game, if we get that every night, good things are going to happen," Poore said, "especially when we get our depth back. I thought we really battled extremely hard."
WVSU's last surge came with about 5 minutes left. The Yellow Jackets (4-9, 2-6 Mountain East Conference) used an 11-0 run to cut an 85-71 Fairmont State lead to 85-82 on a Mazyck layup. Shammgod Wells buried a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, and the Falcons (13-1, 7-1) were able to push the lead back to double digits before the final score.
On the day Fairmont State achieved its highest national ranking since the 1998-99 season, head coach Jarrod Calhoun wasn't pleased at all with his Falcons' Kanawha Valley swing. FSU needed a last-second 3-pointer to beat the University of Charleston on Sunday.
"I thought we made a couple key plays in the game, but this trip has been a nightmare for our program, to be honest with you," Calhoun said. "We had taken 25 steps forward as a program. We probably took 20 steps back in 48 hours.
"When we're not making shots, we've got to become tougher," he added. "We've got to become better competitors, drive the ball, do different things."
There were points where it looked like Fairmont State had enough to keep the Yellow Jackets at a comfortable distance. After holding a 7-5 lead off a Terrence Jenkins layup less than 2 minutes into the game, West Virginia State watched Fairmont State sprint away on a 10-0 run and lead by as many as 15 in the first half. But after Bingaya's free throw with 6:37 left in the half gave the Falcons a 36-21 lead, West Virginia State started to chip away.
WVSU outscored FSU 13-6 until the halftime buzzer, and Kenny Strong's 3-pointer with 1:01 left cut the Fairmont State lead to 40-34. But Vonte Montgomery was able to sink a jumper with no time left to give the Falcons a 42-34 lead at the half.
FSU pushed the lead to 14 three times in the second half before West Virginia State made its final run. The Yellow Jackets shot 17 for 30 (56.7 percent) in the second half and scored 44 points in the paint for the game.
"When you press like [Fairmont], you're going to give up some easy shots," Poore said. "And I thought we were kind of opportunistic most of the time, and when we had it, we pushed it."
Webb hurt his knee early in the game but played through it, cutting to the hoop for layups and hitting 8 of 10 free throws when he was fouled. Poore said Webb might have an MCL sprain, and hoped it wasn't anything severe.
Webb said adrenaline kept him barreling into the paint, and all eight players displayed high energy during the game.
"We knew we had to give it all we had, because there was only a few of us," Webb said. "So we were like, 'Don't try to save your energy. Give it your all while you're out there and let's see what happens.' "
Jenkins finished with 12 points and team-high nine rebounds for WVSU, which hosts Glenville State at 4 p.m. Saturday. Strong added 11 points. Jamel Morris scored 20 points for Fairmont State.