MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner (12-3, 3-1 SSAC) jumped into first in the SSAC West Saturday with a thrilling 77-74 win over in-state conference rival Mobile (9-4, 3-2 SSAC) at Tine Davis Gymnasium as
Jonathan Garcia lit the gym on fire to start the second half to give the Eagles a lead to hold onto for the rest of the game.
Despite Mobile knocking down seven threes at a 70 percent clip in the first half, Faulkner's defense forced 14 turnovers to keep it a one point deficit with
KJ Rogers 10 points with four dunks leading the way.
After halftime, Faulkner forced another turnover and took the lead with a
Jeffrey Selden layup before the lead switched back-and-forth on three consecutive possessions with Treylan Smith and
Maliek Sadler trading threes before Garcia got his first two of the half at 17:53 to go to take a 37-36 lead. Garcia knocked down four triples and converted all three free throws of another sequence as part of a 19 point burst to fuel a 33-18 start to the half by the first media timeout to blow the game open 63-49.
However, the team that entered the building as the top dog in the SSAC West, would not go away quietly as Treylan Smith and BJ Comer combined for an 11-2 run over the next three minutes to cut the lead to five. Sadler's jumper with 6:29 left temporarily stopped the bleeding, but the Rams kept chipping away, eventually cutting it to two with a Trent Moye three with 3:22 to go. The visiting Comer tied it with just 2:23 to go, but Faulkner dialed up a drive for Garcia flushed the layup to take the lead again. On the next possession last year's SSAC Player of the Year Ezra McKenna scored his only field goal of the game against the tenacious defense of
Jeffrey Selden with 1:53 to go to tie it again.
KJ Rogers hit a 12 foot jumper with 97 seconds to go to get back in the lead and Sadler blocked the potential tying shot from BJ Comer on the next possession to give Faulkner a chance to put it away, but the chance just didn't fall, allowing Mobile one more chance in which McKenna missed his first chance before drawing the whistle on the second chance and hitting the back end of his two free throws to make it 75-74 with 21 ticks remaining.
Garcia was fouled shortly after the inbound and stepped up and buried both shots of the one-and-one opportunity to make it a three point game. Moye missed the potential tying three with eight seconds remaining, but the Rams grabbed the offensive board and missed a layup that was secured by
Joe Webster to try to seal the game at the stripe, but Webster missed and Mobile rebounded and called a timeout to set up a full-court play to try to hit the tying three, but the shot did not get off in time as the Eagles clinched the win and first place in the SSAC West.
Garcia ended the night with a career-high 29 points with 25 coming in the second half. He eclipsed his previous best of 28 set last season at Middle Georgia on Dec. 2.
KJ Rogers was a constant scoring presence in the game, ending with 21 points. Rogers has broken 20 in three of his last four outings. Sadler ended with 15 for his third straight in double-digits.
Sadler and Rogers tied for the lead with six rebounds each with Sadler collecting two blocks and a pair of steals. Rogers led the team with three steals as Selden also got two. Selden, who primarily defended McKenna while on the floor, allowed just four points (onefield goal and two free throws) to last season's SSAC Player of the Year in 34 minutes.
Faulkner created a positive turnover margin of 13, tied for fifth highest of the modern era and the best since 2015 against Concordia-Selma on Nov. 17. The turnovers created a 12 point 19-7 advantage in points off turnovers for
Scott Sanderson's squad.
Faulkner has now won 12 of the last 16 games with Mobile.
The Eagles now turn their sights towards Dalton, Ga. where the Eagles take on the top team in the SSAC East Dalton State (11-2, 5-0 SSAC) Thursday night at 6:30 central.
