The Point Park men’s basketball team made a historic run in the Mountain East Conference playoffs, falling to the No. 2 Fairmont State 68-55 in the second round on Friday.
In the previous round, the No. 10 ranked Pioneers defeated No. 7 Frostburg State last Wednesday to become the first 10 seed in MEC history to win a game in the conference tournament. The tournament occurred between Wednesday and Sunday at Wesbanco Arena in Wheeling, W. Va.
Coach Kevin Reynolds led the Pioneers to its first win since late January, breaking a 10-game losing streak.
“That night, we played well,” Reynolds said. “We were connected as a team. We were kind of waiting for that all year.”
Brendan Williams dropped 26 points and Nathanial Vann contributed a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Pioneers outscored Frostburg State at the half and maintained the lead to win 74-71.
Point Park held Frostburg State to 37.7% field-goal success, and on offense, the Pioneers were extremely accurate with a 54.2 FG%.
After closing the regular season with a 35-point performance against Salem, senior center Nazareth Fisher went three-for-four from the field and recorded 12 rebounds on Wednesday to help secure the win.
“It felt really good to break that streak,” Nazareth Fisher said. “It honestly felt like it would never happen at times. And it was relaxing to leave a game in a good mood.”
The Pioneers entered the second round on Friday in a noon matchup against the nationally-ranked Fairmont State.
“We had good confidence all year, but we felt going into Friday’s game against Fairmont, we had good confidence, and we started out strong,” Reynolds said.
The Pioneers opened the ball game with a seven to two lead when senior guard Vann suffered a game-ending shoulder injury three minutes into the matchup.
In addition, starting freshman Aiden Miller did not play in the tournament due to injury.
“We were really undermanned, and the guys still played hard and gave a valiant effort,” Reynolds said. “It just didn’t work out our way, but I was super proud of how hard the guys played.”
Despite the setbacks, Point Park stayed close behind the Falcons to close the first half trailing 32-27.
“I think that’s why we had success in the tournament, because guys believing that at some point we were going to turn this around,” Reynolds said. “That’s why it was so unfortunate for Nate to go down on Friday. That was the accumulation of a lot of bad luck, just the final straw of things not going our way.”
The Falcons took control in the second half, firing up their electric offense and shooting 61.9% from the field. The Pioneers went 10-for-22 to widen the gap between the two teams. The afternoon ended 68-55.
“[There] were some really energy-changing plays for them,” Reynolds said. “And still, we ran out of gas in that game, but I felt like we would have kept [up] with Nate in the game. I think it would have been a different ending for us.”
Aidan Anderson led the Pioneers with 13 points, and Fisher contributed a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Fairmont State went on to win the MEC championship in an upset against the number-one-ranked West Liberty on Sunday. The Falcons will compete in the NCAA Division II Championship tournament this weekend.
After Point Park made the transition to Division II athletics in the summer, the men’s basketball team concluded its first season in the MEC with a 11-19 record overall and a 4-16 conference record.
Last season, Point Park won both the regular season championship and the tournament championship in the NAIA River State Conference.
“As a player I was proud of being able to keep going,” Fisher said. “Having a losing season after winning it all isn’t the easiest thing. I think even with all the losing everyone on the team still gave it their all during the games and practices.”
The MEC is considered one of the most competitive men’s basketball conferences in Division II athletics. The conference includes three teams in the top 10 Atlantic region rankings.
“It is a tough transition for us, and that’s why I’m so proud of the team, because we tried hard,” Reynolds said. “Our preparation, our vision, didn’t change. It’s just we were in a top-three [Division II] men’s basketball league in the country.”
Reynolds began coaching at Point Park in 2022-23 and concluded his first season with a 23-7 record. During his 2023-24 run, the Pioneers went 31-3 to win the NAIA River States Conference Championship and make it to the second round of the NAIA National Championships.
Reynolds plans to learn from this transitional season and begin preparation for next season both on and off the court.
“From a player standpoint, the players know they need to increase their commitment in the offseason and summer to be ready for the Mountain East,” Reynolds said.
The team will graduate five players including starters Vann and Fisher, as well as Jags Jhawar, Darren Ainembabazi and Daniel Felix.
“We have a lot of champions in the locker room, five seniors and several of them are going to earn two degrees at Point Park,” Reynolds said. “The guys are good players, good guys, good students, and not every team can say that.
“Their traditions of work ethic, and on and off the court and in the classroom can be upheld by next year’s senior class and then the class after that.”
