MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner got exactly what it needed heading into Christmas break after two disheartening conference road setbacks, the Eagles' first consecutive regular season SSAC losses since 2018-19. Back in Tine Davis Gymnasium for the first time since the Brewton-Parker game on December 1, Faulkner got back to its winning ways with an 83-63 victory over Dalton State on Saturday afternoon.
"We just haven't been ourselves," Coach
Scott Sanderson said. "I mean no discredit to Blue Mountain, no discredit to Life, no discredit at all, but we just have not been ourselves the last couple weeks. We've just been out of sync. We've had guys out. But we got back to our basics of doing what we're supposed to be doing, and that's guarding people and rebounding. We can score the ball with anybody, but it's about defending and rebounding. For the last couple games and even starting with the Brewton-Parker game, we didn't defend and rebound. And finally, we got our message across."
Derrick Donigan missed the contest due to illness, but
Derek Murphy stepped up in just his second collegiate start and put forth a career-best effort, pouring in 24 points, four rebounds and two steals.
Trace Hill was not far behind with 19 points and five boards.
C.J. Hines was all over the floor, racking up 17 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
Jonathan Garcia scored 11 points, and
Elijah Jones added seven boards and four points off the bench.
After surrendering a 51.6% shooting performance, allowing 50 points in the paint and getting outrebounded by Life on Thursday night, the Eagles flipped the script and took out their frustrations on the Roadrunners. Faulkner connected on 49.2% of its shots, including 58.62% in the second half, 61.1% of its three-point attempts and 70.6% of its free throws. The visitors were held to percentages of 41.8%, 42.1% and 56.3%, respectively. The hosts won the rebounding battle 42-29, with the offensive board margin at 15-10. The Eagles won points in the paint 30-20 and points off turnovers 11-3.
"I made them watch the whole game with Life," Sanderson said. "Because, I mean, that's disgusting. There's no way that should happen. You can print that in bold letters. No way it should happen. I made them watch the whole game, which was an hour and a half, and then we practiced for two hours after being tired. So, I'm proud of the way our guys responded. It's a long season, people will go through ups and downs. Hopefully, we got it corrected."
Murphy claimed the opening points of the game off a Hines steal, and after Sean Cobb tied it, Garcia responded after a Roadrunner pass missed its mark and went out of bounds. Garcia hit a three to put his team ahead for good at 5-3. Hill sunk a trey of his own before adding a layup off a fast break that gave Faulkner a 10-2 lead that put the first half score out of reach. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the period except for a 6-0 Faulkner run that spanned more than three minutes and included two offensive rebounds and putbacks from Jones.
Trailing 36-26 at the break, Dalton State scored the first eight points of the second half before Faulkner awoke from its sleepwalk and went on a 12-0 run that effectively ended the game. Hill kickstarted his team with a bucket at the 17:37 mark. On the next possession, Hines claimed the rebound off his miss. He passed back to Hill, who dumped it off to Garcia, and the Texan sophomore knocked down the triple. The run concluded with a personal 7-0 run from Murphy with a step-back jumper, a three and a layup, and set up a back-and-forth contest the rest of the way to keep the Roadrunners at arm's length and send the Eagles into a much-needed break.
"The biggest thing for us right now is to get some rest," Sanderson said. "We've got some guys that have played a lot of minutes. They need to get some rest. They need to enjoy their time with family at home, then we'll get back on the 26th at 5:00 and we'll start practicing. We'll have three days of preparation. We're looking forward to it. Obviously, playing that way and winning that way helps everyone's psyche. It's like I told them, it's a long season. Just remember how the last couple weeks felt. Nobody likes to feel that way. It's wasn't the teams that we played. It was more on us, and that's what bothers me the most."
Faulkner (10-2, 4-2 SSAC) steps out of conference play for the final time this season as it serves as a campus host for the SSAC-Sun Challenge before celebrating the New Year. The Eagles play a pair of Sun Conference opponents in Southeastern and Warner on December 29 and 30 before hosting SSAC foe Loyola on January 3.
