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WHEELING -- With 10 minutes remaining in the second half of Saturday night's semifinal between second-seeded Fairmont State and sixth-seeded Glenville State at the Mountain East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament at WesBanco Arena, it appeared as if fans were going to be treated to a thrilling finish.
Appearances, however, can be deceiving.
A mere six minutes later, a two-point FSU lead ballooned into a 16-point advantage and the outcome was no longer in doubt as the Falcons rolled to a 75-62 win.
The victory, Fairmont's sixth in a row and its 10th in its last 11 games, improved the Falcons to 26-4 on the year. It also earns FSU a berth in the league tournament title game Sunday at 4 p.m. against top-seeded West Liberty (27-3).
This will be the third meeting between the Hilltoppers and Falcons in the MEC championship game. West Liberty holds a 2-1 advantage in those games. The Hilltoppers also won both meetings during the regular season with FSU.
Fairmont State's top-seeded women will also play for the league tournament championship Saturday at 1 p.m. against sixth-seeded Glenville State. This marks the first time since 2017 that both the Falcons' men and women will play for the title in the same tournament.
During the game-changing six-minute stretch in the second half, Glenville State missed five field goals, three foul shots and turned the basketball over five times. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the Falcons made them pay dearly for their miscues.
"Glenville had played really well leading up to that point, but I think it was just a matter of time before our pressure started weighing on them," said FSU guard Tommy Williams, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. "I think it finally did and when it did, we were able to capitalize off of it. We finally hit some shots, got some steals, and just changed the game."
Pioneers coach Bob Bolen said that stretch, without question, was the difference in the game.
"It's 49-47 and we were right there," Bolen said. "I mean, right there. Fairmont, though, created the breaks and we didn't. Give them all of the credit.
"They're a good, good team and they're a very veteran team. They have a lot of guys who have played a lot of basketball."
Glenville State freshman guard Elijah Redfern, who led the Pioneers with 19 points, but had seven turnovers, said the Falcons turned nearly every GSU mistake into points during that stretch.
"There were a few possessions in a row where they created turnovers and they scored every time they created one," Redfern said. "That's a recipe for disaster in tournament basketball. That's where things went wrong.
"Also, like coach said their defense was good and we didn't shoot the ball well."
The Pioneers were 21 of 54 from the field (38.9 percent) and 4 of 21 (19 percent) from 3-point range in the loss.
Fairmont State outscored GSU 20-12 in points off of turnovers and 19-5 in fast break points. It was also another case of the Falcons breaking open a close game late this season and winning.
"We're used to being in close game and we have a pretty old team with a lot of experience so that helps a lot too," said FSU's David Jolinder, who chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds. "When you play in close games throughout the year it teaches you to come together, trust each other and trust everyone to push through and make plays when you need to make them. That's pretty much what we did."
The 11th-ranked Falcons also got 17 points from Rudy Fitzgibbons and made 11 of 12 free throws in the game's final 3:14 to seal the victory.
Glenville State, which finished the season 17-13, also got 17 points from Ammar Maxwell and 13 points and a team-high six rebounds from Prince Mosengo.
"This was a really great win for us," FSU coach Tim Koenig said. "We're 1-0 today and we get to move on to Sunday so that's a good thing.
"Also, congrats to our women as well for the great game they played today. We're both playing Sunday for a title, so that's pretty cool."