CUMBERLAND, Md. - Frostburg senior guard Daniel Alexander reached the 1,000-career point milestone with six minutes left in the second half, but the FSU men's basketball team endured an 85-73 loss to West Virginia Wesleyan, Saturday.
The loss drops FSU to 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the MEC, while the win is the first for Wesleyan this year (1-5, 1-0 MEC).
Alexander registered 10 points in the first half and hit a layup with 6:00 minutes to go to reach 1,001 career points. He finished the game with a Frostburg-best 15 points and eight rebounds.
Alexander and senior Lawrence Pettis, Jr. Hit back-to-back three-pointers in the opening half as FSU rallied from an early deficit for a 26-20 lead with 6:11 showing until halftime.
WVWC closed the first half on a 14-3 run for a 39-31 lead at the break.
Pettis hit three foul shots at 14:59 to bring FSU to within six at 50-44 and he later hit a layup at 13:03 as FSU closed to within four at 56-52.
Sophomore Bo Schene connected on a jumper in the paint at 8:05 as Frostburg cut its deficit to 65-62. Sophomore Sean Patterson hit a layup at 7:34 and FSU brought its deficit to three one final time at 67-64.
From that point on, West Virginia Wesleyan slowly pushed its lead back to double digits before winning 85-73.
Aside from Alexander, Pettis was the only other FSU player in double figures as he scored 14.
Wesleyan had four starters in double figures and was led by Dusan Vicentic with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Ross Young finished with 18.
Wesleyan outrebounded Frostburg 52-38, but FSU received 42 points from its bench players.
Frostburg returns to the court on Tuesday at Davis & Elkins at 7:30 pm.
