MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Senior guard Nick Drake scored seven of his game-high 25 points during a decisive 11-0 late stretch against Dalton State here Thursday night to help Faulkner escape with a 75-69 victory, it's sixth straight as the Eagles continue to climb in the Southern States Athletic Conference standings.
A 3-pointer by the Roadrunners' Jordan Bowling handed the visitors a 57-55 lead with 4:43 left in the tight affair before Drake brought the Tine Davis Gymnasium crowd to its feet with a pair of twisting baskets at the rim, one resulting in a conventional three-point play. He added two more free throws and an assist to put the Eagles on top 66-57 with 1:38 to play. Faulkner survived a couple of miscues in the closing minutes by hitting 9-of-10 free throws in the final 44 seconds to seal it. Scott Sanderson's team made 19 of its last 20 attempts from the stripe, and was 22-of-24 from there in the second half after making just two of its five tries in the opening 20 minutes.
The Eagles (13-11 overall, 7-5 SSAC), who lost their first four conference games, moved into a tie for third in the league standings with six games to play. For Sanderson, the fact that his team found a way to win when not playing its best left him a proud coach at the end.
"Sometimes when things aren't going right you have to look for other ways to win, and tonight it was great free-throw shooting in an extremely tight and hard-fought game," Sanderson said. "We were just out of sorts for most of the night, but Nick stepped up and made some huge plays for us. A bunch of guys hit free throws when we had to have them, and that's was big for our team."
Drake made seven straight from the line down the stretch, while backup point guard Marquis Grays connected on nine of his 10 attempts, all coming in the second half. Monta Sanford and Jose Jimenez also confidently dropped in free throws in key moments. Faulkner played most of the second half without starting point guard and playmaker Di'mar Hill, who picked up his fourth foul with just under 14:48 to play. Sanderson put him back in the game just under the six-minute mark but, after making a layup off a Drake assist, fouled out with 5:11 left. Grays and Drake became the primary ball-handlers from there, and both did good work.
"We have so many plays in for Di'mar late in close games like that, it made it difficult for us to do what we normally do," Sanderson said. "But I thought Nick and Marquis were great at handling the double teams and the pressure, because we would not have won had they not kept their composure. They played with confidence in a tough spot, and I think that speaks highly of our team to fight through adversity. Our guys believe in themselves, and I'm proud of them."
In addition to Drake's big night, Grays added 12 points, Sanford 11 and Hill 10. Lucas Luttrell was held to just three points - seven below his average - but did pull down a game-high eight rebounds as the undersized Eagles continued a trend of battling bigger teams on the glass. Faulkner, which got seven boards from Drake, outrebounded the Roadrunners 35-34. Dalton State (14-9 overall, 6-6 SSAC) got 20 points from Marcel Hawkins, 16 from Reed Dungan, 12 from Bowling and 10 from Jalen Robinson, who matched Luttrell with eight rebounds.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well, with Faulkner at 39 percent from the field and Dalton State at 38 percent. The Roadrunners made six 3-pointers in 20 tries, while Faulkner converted only seven in 27 attempts from behind the arc.
The Eagles got off to a nightmarish start, not scoring its first points until the 14:48 mark of the first half. Their second basket came with 11:06 on the clock, and by then the Roadrunners had built a nine-point lead. After missing 10 of its first 11 shots from the field, Faulkner warmed up a bit and climbed back to within a point on a couple of occasions. A Deshawn Ruffin putback in the final seconds allowed Dalton State to take a 31-28 advantage to the locker room at the break. Neither team led by more than six in the hotly-contested second half until the 11-0 Faulkner run that tipped the scales for good.
Next up for Faulkner is Middle Georgia State (11-5), which is alone in second place in the SSAC with a 9-3 mark,Saturday afternoon's battle at Tine Davis Gymnasium tips off at 4.
