Men's Basketball | 12/15/2017 9:56:00 AM

By Duane Cochran for FightingFalcons.com

Nine games into the 2017-18 basketball season first-year Fairmont State University men's coach Joe Mazzulla feels his team is pretty much right where he thought it would be prior to the start of the campaign.
 
FSU is 6-3 overall and 4-2 and tied with the University of Charleston, West Virginia State and Virginia-Wise for fourth place in the 12-team Mountain East Conference standings.
 
Fairmont's losses have come against the University of Findlay (84-82), West Virginia State (106-100) and West Liberty (106-100). Findlay is currently 10-2 overall and receiving votes in the NABC Men's Division II Top 25 Poll. State, meanwhile, is 6-4 overall and West Liberty is 10-0 overall, 6-0 and leading the MEC and ranked No. 7 in the nation.
 
"I feel like the season has gone pretty much how we thought it might go minus the State loss," Mazzulla said. "We think that loss might come back to haunt us. We talk about that being a culture loss. We learned we have to be ready to play every single night. The other losses at the time were to then-Top 10 teams and they really were 50-50 games that could've gone either way.
 
"I know this is going to sound a little weird, but I'd really like to see us play as a team the way that we practice. We're one of the best practice teams I've ever seen. We bring it every single day. We have attention to detail in terms of communication, but we've had a hard time at times bringing that into actual games. People ask me what would you like to see your team do better or what does your team need to work on? That's it. We have to work on finding a way to play the way that we practice."
 
Included among the Falcons' six victories is an impressive 78-74 win over previously unbeaten and No. 9 ranked Wheeling Jesuit. The Cardinals are currently 8-2 overall and ranked 14^th in the latest NABC Top 25 Poll.
 
FSU also has wins over St. Augustine's (86-63), Millersville (92-89), Charleston (105-104 in overtime), Glenville State (69-64) and West Virginia Wesleyan (83-77). Five of Fairmont's six victories this season have come by six points or less.
 
"Even though we have a lot of veteran players we also have a lot of young guys playing and nine games into the season I really want to see our guys be battle-tested and play with the experience I know they can play with," Mazzulla said. "We've had some close games and I think our guys have learned from those games. Now, I want to see that translate into good things for us on the floor and I want to see us keep improving as the season progresses."
 
FSU has a pair of tough tests before the Christmas break. The Falcons will host California (Pa.) University Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Joe Retton Arena. The Vulcans are 5-4 this season. Fairmont will then visit Indiana (Pa.) University for a 7:30 p.m. contest Tuesday, Dec. 19. FSU defeated IUP 84-68 in last season's Atlantic Regional semifinals at the Joe Retton Arena. The Crimson Hawks are 7-4 this season and have won six of their last seven games.
 
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Junior Jason Jolly leads Fairmont State in scoring this season with a 22.0 average. The 5-7 guard has led the Falcons in scoring in seven of their nine games, including a career-high 40-point performance in the loss to West Virginia State.
 
For his career Jolly currently has 944 points and needs just 56 more to become only the 47^th player in school history to score 1,000 or more points in his career.
 
Jolly is shooting 48.9 percent from the field (64-of-131), including a 49.3 performance from behind the 3-point line (36-of-73) this season. Jolly currently has made 166 3-point field goals for his career and already ranks fourth in school history in that category. He needs 13 more made 3-pointers to pass his former teammate Jamel Morris (178) for third place.
 
Morris is currently playing for the Grand Rapids Drive of the NBA's G League. He's played in 17 games this season for the Drive and is averaging 8.1 points per contest. Former FSU standout forward Thomas Wimbush is also playing in the NBA's G League for the Long Island Nets. Wimbush has played in 15 games for the Nets and is averaging 10.3 points and 3.7 rebounds.
 
Joining Jolly in double figures in scoring this season for Fairmont State are junior guard Vonte Montgomery (11.9) and sophomore forward Andrew Emrick (11.0). FSU also has four other players averaging between 9.2 and 8.2 points per game. Included in that group are senior guard/forward Caleb Davis (9.2), redshirt freshman forward Kenzie Melko-Marshall (8.8), senior guard D'Ondre Stockman (8.4) and true freshman guard Cole VonHandorf (8.2).
 
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Ten games into the 2017-18 season Fairmont State's Lady Falcons are 5-5 overall and 1-5 in the Mountain East Conference.
 
FSU started the season 3-0 before dropping four straight games. Since then Fairmont has rebounded to win two of its last three outings.
 
The Lady Falcons will wrap up the first semester of action Tuesday at 2 p.m. with a home game at the Joe Retton Arena against unbeaten and nationally-ranked Edinboro (Pa.) University. The Fighting Scots are 8-0 overall and ranked 10^th in the nation in the D2SIDA Division II Top 25 Poll and 13th in the country in the WBCA Division II Top 25 Poll.
 
For the first time since veteran coach Steve McDonald took over the program in the fall of 2000 Fairmont entered the season without a single returning starter. In fact, FSU has nine new players on its roster and has just one senior, forward Kelli Jo Harrison, who is averaging 9.8 points and a team-high 9.9 rebounds in her first season as a starter.
 
Two of Fairmont's losses this season have come by four points or less.
 
"We're growing and learning as a team with every practice and every game," said sophomore guard Brooke Kurucz, a transfer from Akron University who is averaging 15.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and is tied for the team lead in steals with Harrison with 21. "Right now that's the main thing we can do. I think we all feel like we've lost a couple of games that we should have won. We just need to keep working hard, working on playing better defense and do a better job of hitting shots. I think the potential is there for us to be good and I think eventually it's going to come together for us.
 
"We know the areas we need to improve in. We're a team which wants to push the basketball and as a result of that we tend to turn the ball over at times more than we should. We need to clean that up because a lot of our turnovers have been unforced ones. If we can limit those and like I said get better in some other areas I think we can be a solid team."
 
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Fairmont State true freshman guard Sierra Kotchman's college debut wasn't a memorable one for her. The four-year starter and all-time leading scorer (1,706 career points) at Trinity High School in Washington, Pa. struggled to find her shooting touch in the Lady Falcons' season-opening 76-62 win over Lock Haven. She finished with six points going just 2-of-12 from the field, including a 1-of-6 performance from 3-point range.
 
Kotchman, however, wasn't phased by her somewhat sub-par college debut. Instead, she bounced back and has posted what is arguably the most impressive performance by a true freshman in her first 10 games in FSU women's basketball history.
 
Since Fairmont's opener Kotchman has scored in double figures in nine straight games, including a career-high 32-point performance in the Lady Falcons' recent loss to West Liberty. Six times she's scored 20 or more points and she's led FSU in scoring seven times, including the team's last six games.
 
"My teammates here have all really made me feel comfortable," Kotchman said. "I shoot the ball when I'm open and when I'm not I'm looking to get the ball to someone who is.
 
"My whole goal is only to help us win. I never think about scoring or how many points I have. I don't even know. My mindset is I'm going to play hard from the start of the game until it's finished. I'll do anything I can to help my team win.
 
"The biggest adjustment for me from high school to college was getting used to the speed of the game. After the first few games I got used to it and I'm a lot more comfortable now."
 
Indeed she is. No freshman the last 17 years at FSU has had a better first 10 college games than Kotchman, who has scored 195 points and leads the Lady Falcons with a 19.5 scoring average.
 
Under Steve McDonald, Fairmont has had some talented freshmen who have all played and been successful including guards Kaitlin Snyder and Kristen Gattuso, who both finished their careers as All-Americans, and forwards Haley Garrett and Sidney Thomas. Snider (2,056) and Gattuso (2,041) rank first and second respectively in FSU women's basketball in career scoring, while Garrett (1,803) ranks fourth and Thomas 21^st (1,140).
 
Gattuso scored 151 points and averaged 15.1 points in her first 10 college games, while Garrett scored 118 points and averaged 11.8 points in her first 10 games. Thomas amassed 98 points and had a 9.8 scoring average in her first 10 games, while Snyder had 85 points and averaged 8.5 points in her initial 10 games.
 
Since 2000 Garrett holds the record for consecutive games scoring in double figures by a true freshman. She ended the 2012 season by scoring in double figures in 12 straight games. With three more consecutive double figure scoring performances Kotchman can tie that mark.