NEW ORLEANS - Faulkner (13-6, 4-4 SSAC) dominated inside the arc and found a way late in a dramatic 77-74 SSAC road win over Loyola (6-11, 3-5 SSAC) with Jeffrey Selden's jumper and Joe Webster's free throw providing the difference in the final 40 seconds as Jonathan Garcia added his name to the 1000 point club early in the second half Saturday afternoon in The Den.

The Eagles were clinical in the "old-school" game, shooting 61.7 percent (29 of 47) from two point range while outrebounding the Wolf Pack 43-21, the highest margin in conference play since 2009 when Faulkner grabbed 26 more rebounds than Brewton-Parker. 

Faulkner's inside game started strong on the offensive end and dominated the glass, connecting on 15 of the 22 two-point attempts and outrebounding the Wolf Pack 19-9 to take a 41-33 lead into the locker room. Victor Muñoz dropped 11 points in the first half, hitting five of his six shots in his first start of the season. 

The Eagles showed no signs of slowing down in the second half, opening on a 11-5 run capped by Garcia's personal 5-0 run to hit his 1000th career point and take a 14 point lead–the largest of the night–with 15:33 to play. Garcia became the first Eagle since Trace Hill and CJ Hines hit the marks in short order in late November and early December 2022, respectively, the seventh exclusively under Scott Sanderson's Faulkner head coaching and the 30th Eagle in program history to do it. 

Loyola did not back away, eventually erasing the lead and tying the game with a Jarvis Brown three with 5:08 to play. On the next possession KJ Rogers crashed the glass and scored on the second chance for Faulkner to take the lead back. Leonard Jackson knocked down another Loyola triple the next possession to take a 69-68 lead, the first for Loyola since the opening basket. That lead was short-lived however as Selden's jumper fell though. The two teams traded leads again on the next two possessions with KJ Rogers eventually breaking a 72-72 tie with a jumper with 2:10 to play. Rogers scored eight of his team-high 18 points in this time frame

Jackson tied the game from the stripe for the hosts with 1:52 to go, but both defenses held tough until Selden knocked down a shot with 39 seconds to go to take a 76-74 lead. Loyola got a look from Braelee Albert with 25 seconds to play, but it would not fall and Rogers grabbed his eighth board of the evening before Joe Webster was eventually fouled and hit a free throw to make it a three point game. Loyola fired two attempts up but neither dropped as the Eagles held on for the first win in New Orleans since February 2020. 

The Eagles snapped a three game skid and sit third in the SSAC West. 

Faulkner welcomes Abraham Baldwin (5-10, 1-6 SSAC) to Tine Davis Gymnasium for the first meeting in SSAC play between the new four-year side Saturday at 2 p.m. Read Full Article