MONTGOMERY, Ala. –
Scott Sanderson theorized that his program's culture would propel his squad this season, a hypothesis that looks brilliant after just one game. Faulkner stormed back down the stretch to knock off a game Fisk team 89-84 in Friday night's season-opener, pushing a gut-check win onto its ledger in the process.
"We have a culture here at Faulkner and that culture is winning," Sanderson said heading into the season. That culture was put to the test Friday night as a short-handed Eagles team had nearly half its roster unavailable after a grueling preseason.
The visiting Bulldogs led for 9:25 of the second half and ran the advantage up to 65-57 with 8:57 remaining in the contest. The Eagles started to get up off the deck with 8:15 to go when Victor Muñoz posted sealed his defender at the elbow and looked to hand the ball to
Jayden Cooper. As his defender started to bite on the play, Muñoz rolled to the basket and finished the play with a two-hand jam. The play ignited a 7-0 Faulkner run that included a
Sean McCurdy three and cut the deficit to 65-64 with 7:19 to play. After a Jayden Lockett free throw,
Jayden Cooper drained a three off a
Jonathan Garcia pass to put his team up 67-66.
Blake Goodman responded with a jumper for Fisk and then followed with a dunk to put the Bulldogs up 70-67. Just 18 seconds later, Cooper sank another three to tie the game. Lockett blasted a three with 5:05 left to put Fisk back up 73-70 before McCurdy answered again on the ensuing possession to tie the game once more.
A Goodman jumper and a Muñoz layup kept the back-and-forth affair going before Faulkner wrested away the lead for good with a McCurdy jumper at the 2:27 mark. McCurdy then stole the ball with 2:01 left to start a possession that ended with Cooper driving through traffic and finishing above two defenders for the 79-75 advantage. Muñoz added another layup to move the advantage to six with less than a minute to go. Free throw shooting kept Faulkner in control over the game's final minute before Muñoz capped the game with a jam, bookending a 32-19 run with his two dunks.
Muñoz, a transfer from Iowa Wesleyan, finished the game with eight points over the final 8:15 of the contest. Cooper shined in his collegiate debut as the Pike Road High School freshman scored 20 points in the second half to finish the game with 25 points, four rebounds and three steals in 36 minutes. Garcia finished with 23 points, five assists and three rebounds while going 10-for-10 from the free throw line. McCurdy capped the night with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
T.J. Williams had 10 points and nine rebounds. Muñoz ended the night with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Faulkner played most of the second half with its three-man post player rotation battling foul trouble. Williams and McCurdy had four fouls each while Muñoz had three.
Faulkner (1-0) travels to Lakeland, Fla. Thursday to face St. Thomas in the SSAC-Sun Challenge.
