MONTGOMERY, Ala. - After trailing for most all of the first 28 minutes of play, No. 1 Pikeville decided to show why it is the No. 1 team in the country. The Bears flexed their muscles over a seven-minute stretch, flipping a four-point deficit into an insurmountable lead en route to a 101-81 victory over Faulkner here Tuesday night before a large crowd at Tine Davis Gymnasium.

Scott Sanderson's Eagles built as much as a 10-point lead in the first half and was on top 61-57 with 14 minutes left in the game. It was at that point that Kelly Wells' talented Bears took control, hitting 18 of 21 shots during one second-half span to provide the knockout punch. The decisive 30-4 run gave Pikeville an 87-65 advantage with 7:42 to play.

Faulkner never got closer than 20 points the rest of the way, with the Bears (12-1) building their largest lead at 94-69 with 4:35 left on the clock.

"I think back to the first half, when we had them down 10 and they weren't playing well but we couldn't build on the lead because we got sloppy late in the half," said Sanderson, whose Eagles fell to 6-8 with the setback. "And in the second half we just didn't show up. They beat us down the floor and got a bunch of easy baskets. They hit some 3s, which I can deal with a bit better than seeing a team make a lot of layups.

"Pikeville is very good, obviously. We just got beat by a better team tonight."

The Eagles were paced by junior guard Di'mar Hill, who had 33 points, six rebounds and four assists. Nick Drake followed with 19 points, while Logan Joswiak added 10. Pikeville placed five players in double figures, led by the 21 points from Colt Chapman and the 20 from Christian Leach. Jackson Hussey and K.K. Simmons each had 16 points, with Trey Rakes chipping in 13.

The Bears shot 70 percent from the field in the second half, and outrebounded the Eagles 22-10 in the final 20 minutes for a 39-24 advantage on the glass. Faulkner made 45 percent of its field goal attempts. The deep Bears were dominant off the bench, outscoring the Eagles' reserves 30-9. Faulkner played the game without valuable sixth man Robert Baltruns, who injured his knee in Monday's practice.

"Some good things happened tonight, and we will have to build on them as we get ready for conference play," Sanderson said. "We certainly didn't like the outcome, but we'll get better. The most important thing we need to do is build some confidence off our bench and get more quality minutes from those guys. That's going to be a big key for us the rest of the season."

Faulkner got the start it needed against the top-ranked Bears, grabbing the lead in the early going and never relinquishing it in the opening 20 minutes. Hill's twisting basket at the rim gave the Eagles a 15-6 advantage at the 15:42 mark, and a Matt Pond 3-pointer extended the margin minutes later to 21-11.

Drake's long-range bomb gave Faulkner a 29-19 lead with 7:15 left in the half, only to see the Bears take advantage of a sloppy Eagles' stretch to claw back in it. Leach scored six straight points as Pikeville cut into the margin late in the period. His basket off a turnover cut the deficit to three at 37-34, and Faulkner took a 43-40 lead to the locker room.

Faulkner gets back into Southern States Athletic Conference action Saturday when it travels to Pulaski, Tenn., to battle 17th-ranked Martin Methodist. The game tips off at 4 p.m.