MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner (15-6, 6-4 SSAC) picked up its 8th consecutive win over Point (3-17, 2-11 SSAC) in the Battle of I-85 Thursday night with a 83-71 win over the Skyhawks in Tine Davis Gymnasium with a crushing 17-6 run over the first 4:40 of the second half to flip the tide.
Faulkner started the night ice cold from the floor going 3-19 over the first 10 minutes and trailed by four with the defense holding serve, but slowly defrosted with
KJ Rogers's layup at 9:57 in the first knocking down three of the next four to tie it at 18 before RJ Comer knocked down a three to take the lead a couple minutes after.
The lead changed twice more in the first half including a bucket by Mike Evans to put the Skyhawks up one with 28 seconds to go, but Faulkner played situational basketball perfectly and set up
Jeffrey Selden to hit a three at the horn to take a 33-31 lead into halftime.
After the break, the Eagles scored first with
Maliek Sadler converting a pair of free throws that were canceled out by a Skyhawk bucket but a third chance layup from
Gabriel Rivera cashed in on two offensive boards. The next bucket for the Eagles scored by Sadler also manifested from an offensive board to go up six. Faulkner then sparked an 11-2 spurt over the next 2:14 to blow the game open and take a 50-37 lead.
Point cut into the lead and made it a one possession game and had the ball but
Jordan Johnson stole the ball and Sadler finished the basket and then scored again from a Rogers swipe 30 seconds later. The Skyhawks brought it back to 60-55 with just a shade under nine minutes to play, but Faulkner went on a 9-0 run going 4-4 from the floor accentuated by
Joe Webster's dunk from another Johnson steal to make it a 13 point game and put it to rest.
Back-to-back threes from Johnson and Rogers put Faulkner up to its largest lead of the night at 80-62 with 2:09 to go.
Offensively, Faulkner balanced the scoring with five in double figures paced by Garcia's 18. Sadler and Rogers had 12, Selden 11 and Rivera 10 with Johnson just one point behind. Selden and Rogers both had double-doubles tying for the game lead with 11 points.
The Eagles went 14 of 15 from the line, following an impressive 26-30 outing against ABAC last week for a stellar 88.9% clip from the charity stripe to start the homestand. The team also picked up its seventh game of the season with double-figure steals with 10, the most since the 2020-21 team totaled eight such contests en route to the Sweet 16.
Faulkner improved to 10-1 at home and won its last eight meetings with Point to take a 9-1 record over the rival since 2000.
The Eagles are even in the loss column with second-place William Carey (9-4 SSAC) who has played three more league games and sit third in the SSAC West standings with a 2.5 game lead over UT Southern.
Faulkner welcomes Brewton-Parker (6-15, 2-9 SSAC) to Tine Davis Gymnasium Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. looking to continue the 10 game home winning streak over the Barons.
