PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The final contest of the 2022 Battle at the Beach lived up to the nomenclature Wednesday as Faulkner fought off a game Missouri Baptist team 80-72.

After the Eagles used the press to build a 12-0 lead to open the game, Spartan head coach Preston Ingram called a timeout to counsel the troops. From that point, Missouri Baptist's defense began to drag Faulkner into the proverbial deep water.

Faulkner appeared to get things rolling again by the 7:27 mark of the first half when Trace Hill's bucket moved the lead to 15 points. However, Breven McMullen and Bryce Johnson found their respective strokes from deep the whittle the lead down to nine points. A Nico Hill shot with 2:08 left until halftime got the Spartans to within seven.

Faulkner's backcourt combo of C.J. Hines and Jonathan Garcia advanced the lead back to 11 by halftime.

The reprieve proved beneficial for Missouri Baptist as the Spartans opened the second half on a 9-0 run to cut the margin to 39-37.

Trace Hill buried a three off a Hines pass with 14:38 left to push the lead to six. A Hines free throw ahead of another Hill bucket extended the advantage to nine at the 13:30 mark. Hines then dished off to Daniel Garmendia for a three that briefly pushed the margin back to double figures. McMullen answered with a shot in kind 24 seconds later before Isaiah Brooks snatched down an offensive rebound and dished off to Trace Hill, who knocked down another three to put Faulkner up 11.

Undaunted, Missouri Baptist put together 7-1 mini run over the course of 53 seconds to slice the gap back down to five with 3:59 left. After the Eagles pushed it back to eight, Tyrell Andrews sank a three with 2:17 to go to make it a five-point game one more time. Johnson's three with 18 seconds left narrowed it to six, giving the Spartans one last bit of hope before Trace Hill knocked down a pair of free throws with eight seconds on the clock to leave it at a three-possession game and thwart the threat.

Faulkner shot just 40.7 percent from the floor and only 24 percent from three while Missouri Baptist hit 43.6 percent of its shots from the field and 40.9 from beyond the arc. The Spartans also made 15 of 16 free throws while the Eagles hits 26 of 34 including 20 of 23 in the second half.

The Eagles turned the ball over only six times and forced 18 Spartan turnovers, leading to a 17-2 margin in points off turnovers.

One night after joining Faulkner's 1,000-point club, Hill poured in a career high 26 to go along with six rebounds. Hines added 19 points, six rebounds and eight assists. Brooks finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Faulkner (8-0, 2-0 SSAC) now heads into a four-game stretch of conference play before participating in the SSAC-Sun Challenge to wrap the calendar year.

The Eagles play again Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Blue Mountain.