FAIRMONT, W. Va. – The Fairmont State University men's basketball team used an 11-0 run midway through the second half and a 7-0 run in the final three minutes on the way to an 85-78 victory over Slippery Rock Saturday night in the final game of the Joe Retton Classic.
 
Slippery Rock drops to 1-1 overall with the loss, while Fairmont State improves to 2-0 with the victory.
 
The two teams traded leads 19 times in an entertaining first half that ended with Jared Armstrong knocking down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send it to halftime with The Rock leading 41-39.
 
Fairmont opened the second half with a 7-0 run to regain the lead and then put together an 11-0 run over a stretch of 2:08 to go up 67-55 with 11:45 to play. Slippery Rock rallied from that deficit to cut the lead to just two points at 71-69 with 3:00 to play, but the Falcons responded with a 7-0 push to open up a 78-69 lead with 1:46 to play.
 
SRU cut it to 79-75 with three made free throws from Will Robinson Jr. with 41 seconds to play, but Fairmont converted from the charity stripe to close out the 85-78 win.
 
Robinson and Armstrong combined to score 63 of The Rock's 78 points with Robinson scoring a game-high 38 points and Armstrong adding 25. Robinson also grabbed 12 rebounds for his second straight double-double after going for 25 points and 17 rebounds in his SRU debut Friday night.
 
The 38-points by Robinson marked just the third time since 2004 that an SRU player has scored at least 38 in a game. The only other SRU player in the last 15 years to accomplish that was Armstrong, who had 38 against Carlow last year.
 
Donovan Walker added three points and six rebounds, Amante Britt scored three points and handed out three assists and Lashon Lindsey grabbed six rebounds.
 
Slippery Rock shot 46.4 percent from the field (26-of-56), 47.8 percent from 3-point (11-of-23) and 83.3 percent from the free throw line (15-of-18). The Rock posted a slim 39-37 edge in total rebounds, but turned the ball over 15 times to just six turnovers for Fairmont.
 
The Falcons shot 43.8 percent from the field (28-of-64), 32.0 percent from 3-point (8-of-25) and 65.6 percent at the free throw line (21-of-32).
 
Cole Vanderhof scored 23 points to pace five Fairmont players in double figures. Seth Younkin added 14 points and Dale Bonner and Isaiah Sanders each scored 12.
 
Slippery Rock will turn its focus to the home opener Tuesday night when Penn State Shenango visits Morrow Field House for a 7:30 p.m tip.
 
 

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