Preview of Fairmont State Basketball Team’s Mountain East Tournament Championships
The Fairmont State University Men’s Basketball team (22-6 overall, 17-5 Mountain East Conference) and Women’s Basketball team (22-8 overall, 16-6 MEC) are looking to continue their success into the postseason at the 2022-23 Mountain East Conference Tournament Championship. The series games are being held at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W. Va. this week, March 1st-5th. The Fighting Falcons’ men’s team earned the #2 seed for the tournament, while the women’s team is ranked as the #4 seed heading into the stiff league competition.
The Fairmont State Men’s team quarterfinals matchup is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 3rd. Their opponent is determined in the first-round game of #7 Glenville State and #10 Wheeling on Wednesday, March 1st. The women’s team plans to take on West Liberty this Thursday, March 2nd, at 8:30 p.m.
The men’s team is led by head coach, Tim Koenig, who is in his fourth season with the Fighting Falcons. The team’s leading scorer, Isaiah Sanders, plans to guide his team into a deep postseason run. The guard and forward from Sicklerville, N.J., is a graduate student shooting approximately 19.3 points per game and 2.2 steals per game. Sanders joined the prestigious 2,000-point club at Fairmont State earlier this season and recently claimed his third First Team All-MEC award in a Fighting Falcons’ uniform. Forward and guard, George Mangas, has had a significant impact as a sophomore, scoring 15.4 points per game, and 5.2 rebounds per game. The Lima, Ohio native has been knocking down a 61.0 percent field goal average, ranking first in the MEC. Mangas was named to the 2023 All-MEC Second Team award list. Zyon Dobbs, a senior guard from Fairmont, W. Va., holds the highest assist average on the team at approximately 5.3 per game. Dobbs also hit the 1,000-point mark this season and was voted a 2023 All-MEC Honorable Mention.
On the women’s side, Stephanie Anderson is in her fourth season as a head coach, following a five-year stint as the assistant coach. Junior guard, Alyssa De’Angelo, averages 18.1 per game for a team-high and is shooting 34.6 percent from behind the three-point arc on the season. The Jefferson Hills, Pa. native is putting up a top-ranked average of points per game in the nation. She recently earned 2023 All-MEC First Team honors for the second year in a row. De’Angelo is accompanied by counterpart guard, Katy Darnell, who averages 14.4 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game. This has led her to nine double-doubles on the season. Darnell, a senior from Charleston, W. Va., also leads the team in steals with around 2.0 per game. The recent 2023 All-MEC selections led Darnell to a Second Team recognition within the league.
The Mountain East Conference Tournament semifinals are set for Saturday, March 4th. The women play earlier on Saturday at noon or 2:30, while the men’s semifinals are later in the evening at either 6:00 or 8:30 p.m. The Championships are set for Sunday, March 5th, with the women at 2:00 and the men scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
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