BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – Faulkner suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday night in a road as it blew a 14-point second half lead in a 75-65 loss to Blue Mountain. The Eagles struggled to defend the three-point shot and allowed turnovers to become Topper makes as the home team stormed back to upend the No. 7 squad in the country.

Blue Mountain turned 18 Faulkner gifts into a 28-7 margin in points off turnovers as it shot more than 44 percent from the field on the night. The Eagles allowed 51 points in the second half as the Toppers got hot and never cooled off.

C.J. Hines made a layup with 12:03 left in the game to push the Faulkner lead to 14 and repeated the feat at the 10:21 mark to reset the margin. The Eagles proceeded to go scoreless for the next 5:18 as Blue Mountain surged into the lead. Jakobey Hitchens helped spark a 12-0 Topper 14-0 Topper run that culminated with Vatangoe Donzo's layup to put BMC up 59-57 with 6:23 to play. Hines finally ended the Faulkner drought with a layup at the 5:03 mark to tie the game again. The Eagles made just two more shots from the field in the game with the final one coming off the hand of Jonathan Garcia to cut the deficit to 10 with only four seconds left.

Hitchens and Jamarcus Clark spurred the final stretch for the Toppers, who outpaced Faulkner 16-3 to end the game.

Blue Mountain knocked down 13 threes in the contest while Faulkner made 12. The Eagles won the rebound battle 35-31 while losing points in the paint 28-20.
Hitchens topped BMC with 16 points while Clark had 12. Hines led all scorers with 19 points. Garcia added 15 while Trace Hill and Daniel Garmendia had 10 each.

The loss marks the first by the Eagles against Blue Mountain since 2017. Faulkner (9-1, 3-1 SSAC) returns to action Dec. 17 when it hosts Dalton State.