HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Faulkner built a double digit halftime lead, held on late and made free throws down the stretch to move its winning streak to 15 games with a 65-56 victory over William Carey Saturday.

A Brandon Cranford three at the 18:01 mark of the opening half put the Crusaders up 7-0 before Faulkner got to work. The Eagles went on 13-5 run to take the lead on a C.J. Williamson (SO/Guntersville, Ala.) three-pointer with 13:12 left until halftime. After Jvari Thigpen knocked down a shot to put William Carey up 14-13 with 12:49 to play in the half, Faulkner snatched the lead right back with a Williamson shot 17 seconds later and never surrendered the advantage again.

The Eagles got the lead to 39-27 at half before the Crusaders began to cut into it in the second. An 18-7 run that culminated with back-to-back Cranford triples cut the deficit to three for Carey with 7:27 to play. Faulkner ran it back to six with a Nate Bradley (SR/Concord, N.Y.) three at the 5:39 mark before Cameron Douglas and Cranford dropped shots 18 seconds apart to narrow it to 53-51.

Javontae McDavid hit a free throw with 2:53 to play that put the Crusaders down 55-54. The Eagles ended the game on a 10-2 run to seal the victory despite making only six field goals in the second half.

Williamson knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:27 to play. C.J. Jones (SR/Port Richey, Fla.) hit a three a minute later for the 60-54 lead. Milan Skundric (SR/Negotin, Serbia) drained two foul line shots before Bradley made three from the strip in the closing seconds.

Faulkner turned the ball over 23 times in the game but outscored Carey 17-15 off miscues. The Eagles won the rebounding battle 50-38 including 15 offensive boards that helped spur 15 second chance points. The Faulkner bench also outscored its Crusader counterpart 33-13. The Eagles shot 35.6 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from three while knocking down 15 free throws at an 88.2 percent clip.

Williamson led all scorers with 29 points to go along with seven rebounds. Skundric added 12 points and 15 rebounds for the Eagles. Cranford finished with 15 points while had 13 and Rodney Mallett added 10.

The win was the first for the Faulkner program at Clinton Gymnasium since Feb. 9, 2012 and only the third since 2003.

No. 10 Faulkner (24-3, 15-1 SSAC) ends the weekend atop the SSAC standings and will battle for the regular season crown Thursday at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts No. 5 Dalton State.