SHEPHERDSTOWN, W. Va. - The Frostburg State Men's Basketball team earned their first victory of the 2022-23 season with a tough road contest against Shepherd, pulling out the narrow 58-57 win.
FSU started out with a quick 3-0 lead thanks to a split pair of free throws from junior Tairell Fletcher followed by an easy layup by redshirt junior Jason Murphy, but SU quickly established their defensive prescence, holding the Bobcats scoreless for over four and a half minutes while jumping to a 12-3 lead. Junior Jaylin Albury stopped the run with a clutch triple, but the Rams responded with a three of their own and kept Frostburg at bay despite long distance shots by Fletcher and junior Sean Brown, Jr. to maintain a 24-14 lead.
Graduate Bo Schene found his scoring touch with a pair of smooth jumpers, with Murphy adding a couple tough layups and Albury draining another three to get within 31-25. Murphy and Fletcher ran the offense at the end of the half, scoring FSU's final eight points to go into halftime trailing Shepherd 37-33 but with momentum on their side due to Fletcher's buzzer-beating jumper.
The second half began with Murphy continuing to stay hot, earning a pair of buckets either side of a Schene score, with Fletcher hitting a pair of free throws to get all the way back within one at 42-41. Again, the Bobcat offense ran through Fletcher and Murphy, who scored the next eight Bobcat points, which then was punctuated by an Albury layup off an SU turnover to give FSU a 51-46 lead.
Shepherd regained their focus and the game's momentum, torching a three-pointer then getting back-to-back layups from Carson Poffenberger to tie things at 53-53 with just over six minutes left in regulation. Senior Torrin Stephens came off the bench to score a tough layup and give Frostburg the lead back at 55-53, as each team's offense went cold down the stretch, with the Rams finally breaking through on a three with just under three minutes remaining, then went one-and-one on free throw attempts inside two minutes for a 57-55 lead.
With 52 seconds left, Murphy got the ball down low and was fouled, putting him at the line with a chance to tie, but he could only hit one of the two. FSU's defense came up with a huge stop and Fletcher nabbed a defensive rebound to give the ball to the Bobcats with 20 seconds left and a chance to win. Again the ball made its way to Murphy, who again was fouled, as this time the big man maintained his focus, hitting both from the charity stripe and giving Frostburg the late 58-57 lead. SU had one last chance to steal the game, as Jon Preston had an open three from the left corner off an inbounds play, but he airballed the attempt to seal the FSU win.
Murphy led all scorers with 21 points to go with nine rebounds, with Fletcher tallying an additional 16 points to go with four boards and a pair of assists in a stat-stuffing night.
With the victory, Frostburg improves to 1-2 on the year, while Shepherd falls to 1-2. The Bobcats are back on the court Saturday, November 19 for their home opener against West Virginia Wesleyan, with tip time set for 4 p.m inside Bobcat Arena. Information and updates will be posted at frostburgsports.com.
