PANAMA CITY, FLA. – Faulkner had to fight for everything it got, but the Eagles prevailed over a scrappy Brescia squad for a streaky 78-64 win at Billy Harrison Fieldhouse at Gulf Coast State College Monday. The game was the second on the opening day of the third annual Battle at the Beach tournament, now back in Panama City after taking place on Faulkner's campus in 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns.  

Faulkner was led by the team's first-year assistant coach, Jake Mitchell, as head coach Scott Sanderson was unable to be present. Brescia's gameplan proved to be quite a challenge, with the team from Owensboro, Ky., under the leadership of first-year head coach Sarah Gayler, the first female men's basketball coach in NAIA history. The Eagles, with two talented playmakers out of the lineup due to injury, gathered together enough offense as well as defensive stops and rebounds in the second half to pull away from the Bearcats.  

Faulkner found itself trailing 52-48 with 15 minutes left in the contest after having gone into the locker room with a 41-37 lead. Brescia had just taken a 45-43 lead thanks to two threes from Tay Smith before C.J. Hines gave his team the advantage back with a three of his own. The Bearcats broke the 48-48 tie with a fast-break layup by Jalen Rose and an offensive rebound and bucket by Ricky Shuford. However, the Eagles received the offensive boost they needed when the team's Venezuelan sophomore, Daniel Garmendia, in his second start of the season following the injury to Austin Rogers, was fouled on a three-point attempt. Though the former only made the first, Jamel Cleveland, the graduate transfer from Arizona Christian, grabbed the offensive board after the third shot attempt, setting up J.C. Norris for the game-tying three off a Garmendia assist. All of Norris's points this season, his first active year at Faulkner, have come via long balls. 

The threat was not over yet, of course, but the defense cracked down, only allowing one field goal over the next eight minutes. Two Cleveland free throws tied the score at 54 and began a 16-4 run that gave Faulkner its biggest lead at 68-58 until foul shots in the final minute. Norris hit his second three-pointer of the afternoon to kickstart his team's offense, and the stretch included field goals by Cheikh Ndiaye and Hines, as well as a long-range shot by Jalon Perry to help seal the game. After the Bearcats made a final push by threes from Smith and Rose to pull within four points, Perry responded with another bucket and led to scores by Jeremy Jordan and Isaiah Brooks, which restored the ten-point margin. 

Faulkner also had to bounce back from similar deficits in the first half. With 14:20 left until halftime, the Eagles were down 12-9 until an impressive 11-0 run. Perry started it off by sinking a three-pointer before a Hines layup and threes by Derek Murphy and Jordan. Jamel Cleveland's shot with 8:05 on the clock neutralized a 23-22 Brescia lead, before Garmendia absolutely took off by scoring his team's next 10 points to stake his team to a 34-30 lead. The streaky Bearcats took another one-point lead, but Hines made another three and free throws to give his team the halftime lead and Norris blocked a shot as the half ended to make the scores hold up. 

The Eagles won the battles of rebounding, points off turnovers, second chance points and bench points, the latter addressing a need with leading players unavailable. The Bearcats led in points in the paint and fast break points. Faulkner shot at a 40 percent clip from the floor, while making 11 of 21 three-point attempts for a 52.4 percent mark and registering 79.2 percent on free throws. Brescia made 70 percent of their free throws and 42.4 percent of field goals, but the Eagle defense stepped up in a big way as the Bearcats' mark from the field was 51.61 percent in the first half. Faulkner held the opposition to only 30.4 percent on threes. 

Garmendia racked up 18 points for a season high, along with four boards and three assists; it was his second-best day as an Eagle, behind his 21-point output last February against Brewton-Parker. Perry, the graduate transfer from Florida College, tallied 16 points and the same number of rebounds and dimes as Garmendia in his return to his home state. It would have been a career day for Perry in his Faulkner career, if not for his 24-point outing last week at Mobile. Hines scored 14 points and five boards, and led the team in minutes played with 35. Both Garmendia and Perry were perfect on long-range shot attempts, and Hines made two of his three. Brooks registered six points and nine rebounds, and Trace Hill gathered in seven rebounds to make up for not making a field goal. Ndiaye, a native of Senegal, and Jordan, the latest transfer from Keystone College after Derrick Donigan, both opened their Faulkner scoring accounts. 

Heading into the second day of the tournament, Faulkner (6-1) will take on Baptist Bible College in the third game tomorrow at 4:30. Brescia will face the 12th ranked team in the country, Science and Arts, in Game 2, who knocked off No. 20 LSU-Shreveport in today's nightcap.