FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Men's Basketball team began their home season and conference play with a win by the narrowest of margins, defeating West Virginia Wesleyan 60-59 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The game started out as a defensive struggle, with redshirt junior Jason Murphy getting the scoring going on a putback a minute and a half into the game. Junior Tairell Fletcher, graduate Bo Schene, and senior Agyei Edwards all added buckets to make the score 8-4 six minutes into the contest. Again the offenses went cold, with WVWC finally scoring after four minutes to get within two at 8-6.
 
Murphy kick-started the matchup into action, putting in a pair of free throws and adding a turnaround jumper to put Frostburg ahead 12-6. Schene and junior Cole Harshman combined to make three free throws, then Harshman fed a smooth outlet pass to junior Sean Brown, Jr. for an easy layup and a 17-11 lead. Edwards tacked on a three-pointer followed by a pair from the charity stripe to push the FSU lead all the way to 22-13.
 
Wesleyan quieted the raucous Frostburg crowd with a triple and a layup to cut the deficit to 22-18 with just over three minutes remaining. Edwards and WVWC's Darius Green traded threes, then Fletcher caught some late magic, converting on an old-fashioned three-point play by making his and-one layup. Junior Jaylin Albury knocked in a pair of late free throws, but Wesleyan had the last say of the half, scoring a jumper with just two seconds left to go into halftime with FSU in the lead 30-23.
 
After WVWC opened the second half with an easy bucket, Edwards nailed a pull-up jumper and an end-to-end layup to grow the lead to 34-25. Murphy got back into the scoring column in emphatic fashion, spinning his way to a tough layup then flushing a slam with Schene adding some flair on a pass off the backboard. Fletcher then found Murphy in the paint on an emphatic lob dunk to put FSU ahead 40-27 and looking to run away with the game. On the dunk, however, Murphy was whistled for a technical foul, his second of the game which resulted in an ejection and Wesleyan receiving a pair of free throws and the ball. They converted on both, then split another pair after the under-15 media timeout to bring the score to 40-30 Frostburg.
 
Senior Torrin Stephens and Edwards got FSU going again, with the former hitting a pair at the line and the latter knocking down a jumper to get back to a 44-30 lead. WVWC continued to pester Frostburg defensively, getting stops and turnovers to chip away at the lead and bring the score to 45-38 on a Green layup. Albury drove to the basket and scored a minute later, then Schene powered his way to a bucket plus the foul, which he converted to go ahead 51-40.
 
WVWC took their chance to undo all of FSU's good work, scoring four layups within a minute to suddenly put the score at 51-48 with just under six minutes left in regulation. Albury got a clutch steal and layup to go up five, but Wesleyan responded with a pair of buckets to get back within one. Graduate Vincent Smalls picked a great time to score his only points of the game, driving baseline for a contested layup, followed up by short jumpers from Schene and Brown, Jr. to take the lead to six at 59-53 with less than three minutes left.
 
Still, WVWC wouldn't go without a fight, making back-to-back jumpers to get within 59-57. Schene made one and missed one at the line with just over a minute remaining, then Wesleyan closed the gap to one on 43 seconds to make it a one-point game. Brown, Jr. missed a late three to give Wesleyan a chance to win the game as the seconds ticked down, but Stephens made a late contest on a driving layup to secure the win as the buzzer sounded.
 
Edwards was FSU's top performer on the day, scoring 16 points to go with a game-high 11 boards and three steals. Murphy added 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks, while Albury tallied a game-high five assists.
 
With the win, Frostburg improves to 2-2 on the year, while WVWC falls to 0-5. FSU is back on the court Tuesday, November 22 for a road game against Davis & Elkins set to begin at 7:30 p.m. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.