MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner flipped the switch to put a lackluster first-half finish behind it and distanced itself with a 53.33% second-half shooting performance to put away Mobile 71-55 at Tine Davis Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. The win marked the 500th of Coach Scott Sanderson's head coaching career that fittingly began at Mobile. He has amassed a record of 500-304 throughout 26 seasons as a head coach.

The Eagles connected on 48.2% of its shots and 66.7% of its foul shots to Mobile's 42.3% and 46.7%. With both teams scoring 28 points in the paint, the difference came in the hosts registering a whopping 57.9% from three and holding the Rams to just a 21.1% mark from that range. The visitors only made one triple in seven tries after halftime.  

After trailing 8-7, the Eagles seemed to take control with a 14-2 run that included three-pointers from Trace Hill, C.J. Hines and Jonathan Garcia as well as an old-fashioned three-point play from Hines and a reverse layup by Hill. However, the pesky Rams, who pushed Faulkner to the brink in Mobile last month, came roaring back with a 15-3 scoring span built around a trio of triples by Pooh Frazier. Ezra McKenna's bucket gave the visitors a 25-24 advantage with 4:30 left until halftime. The teams went back and forth for the remainder of the half, but Faulkner claimed a 32-31 lead going into the locker room by dint of two more Garcia threes.

Mobile scored first in the second half, but that would be the final lead of the day for the Rams as the Eagles took control with a 9-0 run featuring scores by Hines and Daniel Garmendia. When Mobile pulled within 41-37 on a pair of DaMariee Jones buckets, Hines responded with a three. After another back-and-forth span, with the lead then 55-48, Faulkner exploded with a 16-0 run that would be its last points of the day before Sanderson emptied the bench.

Inbounding underneath its own basket following a vicious block by Mobile's Keon Walker, Hines dished to Hill coming off the screen behind the arc, and the fifth-year guard drained the three. Isaiah Brooks followed by breaking up a pass, breaking away and slamming it home with a two-hand jam to put his team up 60-48. A Brooks layup and a Garmendia trey came next, before the latter picked up a loose ball that set up a Hill layup. With 5:02 left, Hines broke on a pass of his own and got the layup off the fast break before Hill's floater provided the winning total.

After reaching 1300 career points and surpassing Keiven Mixon's ninth-place spot on the all-time program scoring list in the Loyola game on Thursday, Hines upped his stat line even more with a 25-point outing along with seven boards and five assists. Hill tallied his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds while moving into 11th place on the list; for his part, he sits eight points away from 1300. Brooks and Garmendia contributed 11 and eight points, respectively. By making four treys, Garcia scored 12 and added five boards.

Faulkner kept its firm grip on second place in the conference standings over the third-place Rams by registering a season sweep, needing help in the form of Loyola losses to move up after suffering a sweep by the top-place Wolf Pack.   

The Eagles (20-4, 12-4 SSAC) make the return trip to Middle Georgia State on Thursday.