MONTGOMERY, Ala. – After losing at home and suffering back-to-back setbacks for the first time in almost three years, Faulkner got a key momentum-building 90-82 victory over an always-tough Dalton State squad at Time Davis Gymnasium on Saturday. Faulkner held a 21-3 lead just over seven minutes into the game, and though the Roadrunners refused to go away with a valiant effort, the Eagles' advantage was too much for the visitors to overcome. 

Both teams scored on their opening possessions, as Jalon Perry started the scoring before C.J. Perry hit a three for the visitors. However, that would be the Roadrunners' only lead of the day. C.J. Hines dished to Daniel Garmendia just outside the arc, who gave Faulkner the permanent lead at 5-3. The Venezuela native made a couple of free throws before Hines picked Jalen Barker's pocket and got the layup on the other end. This was the start of an individual 14-point run for the point guard out of Atlanta, Ga., that gave his team a run of 19 consecutive points. Hines turned a Dalton State travel into a converted and-one opportunity. C.J. "Shines" then proceeded to live up his nickname once again, sinking three-balls on three straight Faulkner trips. Those possessions were started by an opponent's charge, an Isaiah Brooks defensive rebound and a Trace Hill steal that came after a stoppage of play due to a false whistle from the stands. 
Dalton State narrowed the margin with a 9-2 run, before the teams traded scores in the form of a Hill reverse layup and a slam dunk by Marquel Wiggins. A one-hander by Hill resulted in a 29-14 Faulkner lead. Brooks then stole a pass and got the layup and the and-one. It was the second theft of the day for the former Eagle outfielder, who, aside from making plays on offense, is transitioning well from stealing bases to stealing the basketball! A Jamel Cleveland bucket through contact after a perfect pick-and-roll and a Jalon Perry layup off a fast break following a Hines steal made the Eagles' lead 36-17. 

Hines responded to Rodley Adjei's three with his fourth of the day, a shot that went in-and-out before falling through, preceding Perry's hook shot after a Garmendia offensive board. At this point, Hines had 19 points to Dalton State's 20 total. After a Dalton State miss, Hines lobbed the ball down to Perry in front of the visitors' bench, and Perry made quite the play by keeping it inbounds while tiptoeing down the sideline. The effort culminated in an offensive rebound and three-point play by Cleveland, making the score 46-22 in favor of the home team. There was an anxious moment for the Eagles at the 1:21 mark, as Hill, playing in his first game coming off an ankle injury suffered against Talladega, pulled up while working the ball in the paint and had to leave the court. He would return for the second half with his ankle taped and was able to finish the game. After a couple free throws narrowed the score to 50-28, Antares Gwyn stole the ball and had a fast break opportunity with three seconds left in the half, but the Roadrunners could not connect on two shot attempts at the buzzer. 

Out of halftime, Perry scored on his team's opening possession again. The visitors came out of the locker room with a fire lit under them, though, making 11 of their first 15 shot attempts in the half. After eight Dalton State points, Garmendia hit a long-range shot and then another to make it 58-38 after he was fouled while gaining a steal. On that sequence, Franklin Almonte got the offensive board off a missed three by Adjei and tried to lob it back to Adjei outside the arc, but Garmendia got his hands on it and would have had a breakaway if not for Adjei interfering and tripping him up at midcourt. Faulkner responded to two Roadrunner baskets by Perry and Almonte with two scores that Hill was responsible for that restored the 20-point difference. A contested bucket by Brooks was assisted by Hill. Hill then completed the follow-through at the rim on a perfectly-drawn up play off an inbound underneath the basket on a possession started by a Perry steal on the other end. Hines had a wide-open lane down the court after his fourth steal, but Dalton State's Donavan Miller knocked the ball out on Faulkner's end. The recently checked-in J.C. Norris inbounded it, and then broke up a would-be steal and fed it to Hines outside of the arc. The latter sunk his fifth three of the day that made the Faulkner lead 66-46. 
Dalton State scored the next eight points around a nearly two-minute scoring drought. With the margin narrowed to 12 points, Hill generated another response with his jumper at the 8:03 mark. The Eagles then got a layup from Brooks after he got a rebound on the other end. The offense made the extra pass on the possession, as Perry served to Hill under the basket, but Hill dumped it off to Brooks, who had a better look coming from the opposite post. This play made the score 72-56. After a Roadrunner miss, Faulkner then had a possession with few passes. Hines got the rebound and lobbed it to Garmendia at half-court, who threw it up to Brooks at the basket. Brooks fulfilled his end of the bargain with the emphatic two-handed jam, giving him a strong finish to his day, as he was called for his fifth foul on the ensuing possession. 

Later, with 4:31 left in the game, Norris checked on and continued his reputation for being a long-range-shooting sparkplug. As part of a back-and-forth sequence, Norris made a trio of three-balls on four consecutive attempts, the last of which gave Faulkner a lead of 87-69. Not willing to accept defeat yet, Dalton State went on to score 13 of the next 14 points and get to within six points. Perry, however, hit two foul shots to help his team finish off the match and hit 90 points for the first time this season. 

The Eagles had almost as close to a perfect first half as a team can come, as they shot 58.6% from the floor in the first half and 41.7% from three, and were perfect on 11 foul shot attempts in the period. They were only slightly less effective in the second half, shooting 52% from the court and 46.15% from behind the arc, and making all but two free throws. The great amount of makes contributed to Faulkner getting only four offensive rebounds. The Faulkner defense locked down the Roadrunners' attack in the first half, holding them to 37.5% shooting and allowing only four makes on 11 three-point shots. Dalton State also had a strong day from the charity stripe in making all but two attempts. The visitors were able to come back by doing more damage from inside the arc in the second half, making two-thirds of their attempts and half of their eight three-point shots. At halftime, Faulkner led points in the paint 20-6, but Dalton State's surge took the category from Faulkner, finishing with a 36-34 advantage. The Roadrunners outscored the hosts in the second half 53-40. In spite of the final score, the visitors led in several offensive categories, such as rebounds, fast break points and points off the bench. The Eagles did win in points off turnovers, however, by a score of 26-8.  

All five Faulkner starters scored in double figures, as well as Miller, Perry, Adjei and Wiggins for the Roadrunners. Hines had his name all over the stat sheet by scoring 26, just two off his career high reached at Brewton-Parker last January, as well as six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Jalon Perry scored 16 points with two assists. Hill and Garmendia each tallied 11 points, with seven assists and four boards and three dimes and two rebounds, respectively. Brooks registered 10 points, making four of five field goal attempts, along with two boards and two steals, despite playing only 20 minutes due to foul trouble. Cleveland had seven points, making all three of his field goals, as well as three boards and a block. Garmendia and Norris both saw all of their made field goals come via the three-ball; Norris has only attempted one two-point shot all season, and has only made threes. Each of the Eagles' starting five, along with Derek Murphy, registered at least one steal. 

With the win, Faulkner now has a marquee conference win, along with its nail-biting one-point win at Mobile and narrow loss to Talladega, who is currently sitting at No. 3 nationally, to hang its hat on going into Christmas break and the remainder of the conference slate. Sitting at 10-3 overall and 2-1 in conference play, the Eagles will next play at William Carey on January 3. Faulkner will make the return trip to Dalton State, who has now fallen to 7-6 overall and 2-2 in the SSAC, on January 20. After having previously beaten the Roadrunners twice in 12 meetings, the Eagles will ride a six-game winning streak over Dalton State into that game, starting with the 2020 conference-clinching 100-97 all-timer in Tine Davis and last year's four-game season sweep of the Roadrunners.