Fairmont, W.Va. – The Edinboro men's basketball team dropped a 79-71 decision to host Fairmont State on the second day of the Joe Retton Classic on Saturday.
 
Bryce Baez gave the Scots a 60-58 lead with a pair of free throws with 8:01 to play. David Jolinder hit a pair of free throws and Tommy Williams hit a 3-pointer to give the Falcons a 63-60 advantage. Ryan Ladjevich split a pair of free throws and Steve Kelly hit a layup with 6:16 to play tying the game 63-63.
 
With the score tied 65-65 at the 5:32 mark, Fairmont State scored five straight points to take a 70-65 lead. Cenker Evran trimmed the lead to 70-67 with a layup at the 3:16 mark, but that was as close as the Scots would get with the Falcons holding on down the stretch including solid free throw shooting to hold on 79-71.
 
The Scots trailed 38-32 after a Jolinder layup at the 19:15 mark of the second half. Michael Dunn started the Scots push with a 3-pointer. Evran followed it with a layup and Kelly gave Edinboro the lead 40-38 with a trey with 17:54 left in the second. Kelly hit another bucket and Dunn hit a free throw to make the Edinboro lead 43-38. Andre Harris hit a free throw and Evan Berger answered with a 3-pointer to push the Edinboro advantage to 46-39 with 15:35 on the clock.
 
Fairmont State responded with an 11-4 spurt to trim the lead to 50-49. The Scots scored the next six points with four from Evran and a bucket from Kelly to push the lead to 56-49 with 12:08 remaining. The Falcons leveled the score 60-60 with an 11-4 run knotting the score with 7:51 remaining.
 
In the first half, Edinboro came out of the gates fast jumping out to a 9-4 lead after an Evran layup at the 17:07 mark. The Falcons answered with a 24-5 run taking a 28-14 lead after a Tommy Williams layup at the 7:08 mark.
 
The Scots chipped away at the lead with a 13-5 run cutting the advantage to 33-27 after a Dunn trey with 2:27 on the clock. Fairmont State would take a 36-29 lead into the break.
 
Kelly led the Edinboro offense with 24 points to go with five assists, three rebounds and a steal. Dunn finished with 21 points including 6-of-11 shooting from beyond the arc. Evran tallied his second double-double in as many nights recording 14 points and 12 rebounds as well as a pair of blocks.
 
Harris led the Falcons with 19 points and nine rebounds. Jolinder added 14 points and Rudy Fitzgibbons added 11 points.
 
The Scots make their home debut on Wednesday when they host D'Youville at 7 p.m. inside McComb Fieldhouse.