The Shepherd University Ram’s men’s basketball team kicked it off with a close defeat against the Fairmont Falcons.
Losing 81 to 86, fans were left gripping their seats until the buzzer rang to end the game.
To start out the game, the Falcon’s earned the tip off followed by a foul by the Falcons which caused Shepherd to gain the first point of the game.
Lead scorers, Gavin Mctavish and Steffen Davis, both juniors, scored 20 points. Mctavish made several impressive dunks that left the crowd cheering, while Davis shined in his flashy pink shoes that brightened the blue and gold uniforms as he ran through the plays.
Skyler Roman, also a junior, showed his abilities to avoid guards by scoring 15 points, half at which he was left wide open.
AJ Carr, a junior, scored 12 points.
Naim Muhammad, a senior, scored nine points, while freshman Thomas Lang added five to the board.
Coach Justin Namolik of Shepherd said, “coming in I think we were very confident…we thought we could win the game, [but] the first half of the last play was the toughest because we missed the layup and gave them a turnover, as well as an unintentional foul [but] that’s not why we lost. I’m just proud of the way the second half went down, we fought until the end and didn’t give up: It was great.”
The Ram’s continue their season play at Glenville state, WV Jan. 21st at 4:00 PM.
Zoe Nicewander is a Sports Reporter for the Picket. She can be reached at ZNICEW01@rams.shepherd.edu