MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For the second time in as many periods of play, Life had tied it up with five seconds left. The momentum from
Isaiah Brooks's slam and a subsequent forced turnover with 41 seconds on the clock was gone.
In a game full of such momentum swings, Faulkner found itself in a struggle with a pesky Running Eagles squad whose potent offense had knocked down 55% of its shots, and needed to make every effort to keep the game from entering double overtime, where the visitors could have easily worn down the host Eagles. To that end, Coach
Scott Sanderson called timeout after the Life score, drew up a full-court play and handed it over to his veteran offense.
Trace Hill went to inbound, went down the baseline and found
C.J. Hines getting a break on his defender. Hines drove down the sideline and inside the arc before kicking back out to
Daniel Garmendia in the corner, who had stepped up in a huge way with Hines and
Derek Murphy in foul trouble. The Venezuelan guard affectionately called "Tranquilo" was needed one more time. He looked to shoot, juked and lost his defender before pulling up and releasing his rainbow a fraction of a second before the buzzer sounded.
Swish. Game. Pandemonium.
Despite being outplayed in multiple categories, the offense dug deep and the Eagles pulled out the 90-87 victory in an all-time classic in Tine Davis Gymnasium on Thursday night to avenge a December loss to Life on the road and claim the program's first win over the Running Eagles.
In the first half, the Eagles held a 23-14 lead after back-to-back buckets by Hines before Life went on a 17-6 run to claim a 31-29 advantage with 4:42 until halftime. The teams traded leads and tying scores until Shomik Shahjahan's three with 12 seconds on the clock in response to a Hill basket gave the visitors a 41-39 halftime lead.
With 16:04 left in regulation, Hill hit a jumper to narrow the deficit to 47-44 and begin a 14-5 run that made the momentum swing back in Faulkner's favor. After the Hill score, Garmendia promptly went coast-to-coast and hit a layup before Brooks connected on a layup of his own off a Murphy block. Garmendia promptly responded to both a triple and a pull-up jumper with threes to stake his team to a 54-52 lead.
The teams went back and forth before Brooks and
Jeffrey Selden collected offensive rebounds and follow-up buckets to put Faulkner up 68-62 with 6:45 on the clock. The contest reverted back to exchanging scoring plays before a Brooks foul sent Life to the line with 45 seconds remaining. Dara Olanade missed the back end to keep the score at 77-74, a fortuitous outcome for the Eagles. Life forced Hill into a crucial miss with 20 seconds left, and Devin Story banked in a three off the rim to send the game to overtime.
The extra time proved no different from regulation, as every score was responded to until the end. With 44 seconds left, Hines worked around two defenders at the arc and found a wide-open Brooks down low, who skied for a huge two-handed jam over his defender, his third slam of the night. Shahjahan was rushed on the ensuing inbound and the pass sailed out of bounds with 41 seconds on the clock.
However, Nathan Presnell promptly stole it from Hines down low on the next possession, and Joshua Ward cashed in with five seconds left by shaking free of Hines and finishing with a driving layup to tie it up. Nerves were high, but "Tranquilo" stepped in to calm them.
All five Eagle starters finished in double figures. Hines finished with 28 points, five boards and two steals, while Brooks racked up 16 points and eight boards. Hill registered 15 points and eight rebounds. Garmendia scored 13 points with a pair of steals while Murphy added 10.
Jonathan Garcia tallied three thefts. Ward led Life with 27 points, and Story was close behind with 23. Presnell registered 12 points, eight boards and three steals. The Eagle defense made enough plays to keep the Life offense at bay when it mattered, forcing 23 turnovers and 11 steals.
Faulkner (16-3, 8-3 SSAC) travels to face Dalton State on January 21.
