DALTON, Ga. – Faulkner trailed for less than two minutes and never by more than two points Monday night before sprinting past Dalton State for a 90-70 SSAC road victory.
Trace Hill's jumper with 17:15 to go in the first half tied the game before
Isaiah Brooks put Faulkner up for good with a dunk at the 16:27 mark. The Eagles went on to lead by as many as 14 in the first half, taking a 43-34 margin into the locker room.
Igor Stokic hit a three for the Roadrunners out of the break to cut it to six before Hill answered in kind at the other end. Dalton would trade buckets with Faulkner for the next seven trips before the Eagles ran it back to a 12-point lead on a
Daniel Garmendia three with 15:53 to play.
Dalton got it back down to six on a Jalen Barker jumper with 14:48 to go and reached that deficit once more on another Barker make with 13:17 left.
Faulkner strung a pair of buckets together and went back to trading shots with the Roadrunners until and 8-0 run that moved the lead to 15 with 7:14 to play. A 12-2 run ended with Faulkner up 23 and 1:41 left on the clock, amounting to the Eagles' largest advantage of the night.
Dalton State put up solid percentages against the Faulkner defense, shooting 58 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three on six makes. The Eagles, however, countered with an exceptional offensive performance highlighted by the fourth highest team assist total in program history and the second best field goal percentage outing of the modern era. The Eagles shot 60 percent from the floor and assisted on 27 of 36 made baskets. Faulkner also hits 11 threes at a 52.4 percent clip. All 90 points for the Eagles came from the starting five.
Jalon Perry topped Faulkner with 21 points and five assists.
C.J. Hines added 20 points. Hill had 19 points and seven assists. Garmendia finished with 17 points and five assists. Brooks notched 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
Faulkner (16-4, 8-2 SSAC) tips it off again Thursday night on the road against Blue Mountain.
