BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – An early second-half run and a consistent defensive effort proved enough for Faulkner to snag a conference road win 57-54 over Blue Mountain Christian Saturday.
After falling behind 27-21 on the first bucket of the second half, the Eagles put together a 21-7 stretch over the next 6:03 to surge to an eight-point lead. During the run, Faulkner made seven of its nine shots from the floor, including six from beyond the arc. The first two makes during the stretch came in the form of
Jonathan Garcia threes that left the Eagles down 29-27.
Gabriel Rivera later made good on an old-fashioned three-point play to cut it to 31-30.
Jeffrey Selden followed with a three to put Faulkner up 33-31. After Jason Hunt answered in kind for the Toppers, Rivera knocked down a three for the 36-34 advantage. That ignited a 9-0 run that featured two more Garcia threes for the 42-34 lead, the largest of the game for the Eagles. During the 21-7 stretch that culminated with 13:33 to play, Faulkner shared the basketball with tremendous efficiency as all seven field goals came off the benefit of an assist.
The Toppers got off the deck with an 11-5 run over the next 4:46 to narrow the deficit to two on an Ikechi Ajukwa jumper with 8:41 remaining.
Maliek Sadler turned a
Jerome Thomas pass into a three-pointer with 7:12 to go, pushing the advantage back to five. The Eagles got it back to eight on a
T.J. Williams layup with 4:53 on the clock. K.J. Rogers made a layup with 3:32 left to mark the final Faulkner points of the contest. Hunt converted a layup with 1:52 left to cut it to a one-possession game at 57-54. The Toppers got five more shots off in the final stretch, including a pair of three-point attempts in the endgame sequence. The final play saw Jalen Boyd-Savage pull a three-point effort that was blocked by Rogers. An offensive board and kick-out to Boyd-Savage gave BMC one more look with Rogers rebounding the miss just ahead of the final buzzer.
The Eagles shot 39.3 percent from the floor in the game while limiting the Toppers to 32.8 percent from the field. Faulkner took points in the paint 22-16 and points off turnovers 17-5 to help put away the victory.
Garcia paced the Eagles with 14 points while Sadler added 13. Rivera finished the day with 11 points and six rebounds.
Faulkner (6-0, 2-0 SSAC) returns to action Tuesday when it hosts Middle Georgia State at 7:30 p.m.
