MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner put a sluggish first 20 minutes firmly in the rearview mirror by exploding for 25 of the last 38 points of the first half and putting away William Carey with a highlight-filled second half for an 84-61 win at Tine Davis Gymnasium on Saturday.
All five Eagle starters reached double figures as part of a 50% shooting performance, including 39.4% from three, while the hosts held the Crusaders to 30.2% and 28.9% outputs, respectively. Despite several tight categories on the box score, the former ran away with points in the paint by a margin of 38-14. They narrowly took the rebounding battle 39-36, while William Carey had 15 on the offensive end to Faulkner's 12.
Faulkner made 13 triples in a team effort, as seven Eagles hit long-range buckets.
Daniel Garmendia was responsible for five of those, which provided all of his points from the field.
Derek Murphy and
Jonathan Garcia each made two treys. The other four were converted by
C.J. Hines,
R.J. Comer, and forwards
Isaiah Brooks and
Aidan Carter.
Garmendia also had a team best of 16 points, while Garcia scored eight off the bench. Hines racked up 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. Brooks was alongside Hines with 12 points, eight boards and two huge blocks. Murphy and
Trace Hill had 10 points apiece.
For their part, despite being shut down by the Eagles inside the arc, William Carey made 11 threes that were shared among just four players. In addition to two from Earl Smith, a trio of Crusaders each registered three longballs: Kolby Moore, Casey Smith and Willie Moody. Moore led the team with 16 points; he played 33 minutes for the visitors due to Arturro Bingham leaving the game immediately following tipoff and not returning.
Moore hit all of his treys in a span of two minutes in the first half sandwiched around matching threes from Earl Smith and Garcia to give William Carey its first lead of the contest at 14-12. Its last two leads came via threes from the Smiths; Casey gave his team a 19-18 advantage, and Earl hit one in response to a Hines jumper to put his team up for the last time at 22-20 with 10:29 left in the first half.
Garmendia hit a triple of his own to give the lead back to Faulkner. After a tying free throw, the Venezuelan then hit another 26 seconds after the previous one to give his team the lead for good. The game went back and forth for the remainder of the half, and the Crusaders stayed at arm's length with the fourth long-range score by Garmendia putting the Eagles ahead 45-35 at the half.
The visitors opened the second-half scoring, but Garmendia answered right back from beyond the arc with his final points of the day. On the next possession, Hines came up with a loose ball and passed to Hill on the fastbreak, and the redshirt senior finished the play with a two-handed slam that gave Faulkner a 50-37 lead. Later, following a Moody triple, Hines nearly lost the ball on a pass from Brooks. The ball rolled outside the arc, where Garcia scooped it up, backed away from the defense and buried the three.
After a trade of scores, with 13:10 left in the game, Garcia launched a three from the corner as he absorbed the contact. The shot missed, but Brooks, coming across the court from the opposite corner to stay with the play, rose up and slammed the ball home to add to his ever-growing highlight reel. On the ensuing drive, after milking clock, Hines found Brooks in the corner and the forward buried the trey.
In response to a three, it was Hines's turn to score five points on consecutive possessions, as he stepped behind the arc and sunk his shot before converting a layup off the fastbreak through the foul. The Faulkner lead was now increased to 67-48. After a scoreless stretch of over two minutes, Murphy deflected a bounce pass on a would-be assist that Carter came up with. Murphy ran to halfcourt, where he received the lob from Carter and passed downcourt to Hill on the fastbreak, allowing for Hill to conclude his scoring for the day with another two-handed jam.
With 8:03 remaining, Murphy dished from the paint back to Carter waiting outside the arc, and the freshman forward converted. Following a Brooks block that led to a William Carey throw-in below its basket, Murphy rose up and blocked the shot from his man to force the Crusaders into a shot-clock violation with 7:24 left. Brooks promptly went to the charity stripe, and after missing the back end,
Jeffrey Selden got the offensive board and tip-in to grow the Eagle lead to 75-50.
After Hines accomplished the feat last week, Hill built on his efforts from Thursday against Middle Georgia when he hit the 3000-point mark for his career. With Saturday's total, Hill moved to No. 10 on the all-time scoring list, beating out Keiven Mixon's 1308. Hines made his 181st career three in the contest, which is good for the fourth spot in the program record book. He now sits just 12 behind the holder of third place, Ben Baxter.
With the win, Faulkner (22-4, 14-4 SSAC) has now sealed a No. 2 finish in the conference standings at a minimum. Sitting at No. 17 in the country, the Eagles still have a shot at No. 1 by winning out, provided current top seed No. 14 Loyola loses its last two games against Dalton State and Life. Faulkner plays its final home game of the season on Tuesday night in a Senior Day showdown with Stillman, who is coming off a double overtime upset win over the Wolf Pack and will be eager to avenge its November loss to the Eagles that opened conference play.
