MONTGOMERY, Ala. – When Faulkner needed it the most,
KJ Rogers turned in the biggest performance of his collegiate career. Rogers notched his fourth steal of the game with less than six seconds to play in overtime. He broke down the left sideline and attacked the basket for a layup to put the Eagles up 99-97 with 0.8 seconds remaining. He then stole the ensuing inbound pass to seal the victory.
Rogers had not touched the ball much in overtime until the 1:09 mark, when he threw down a ferocious dunk over a defender and absorbed the contact to get himself to the free-throw line. He knocked down the bonus shot at the charity stripe to tie it at 92. When Fisk answered with a Lucious Jackson triple at the 45-second mark, true freshman
Levi White answered with an offensive rebound putback to cut it to 95-94. Fisk pushed the lead back to three on a pair of Kaleb Jeffries free throws with 14 seconds to play. Rogers took the inbound pass for Faulkner and worked up the left sideline before the ball was knocked loose. It bounced into the corner where it found the waiting hands of
Micah Thomas. The true freshman guard from Opelika collected the ball and rose up over the outstretched arm of a defender to bury the three and tie the game at 97 with six seconds to go, setting up the decisive Rogers steal-and-go.
Fisk heated up after halftime, knocking down 47.4 percent of its shots from the floor in the second half, including 41.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Eagles trailed by as many as seven before starting to find solutions.
Faulkner found itself down 84-80 with 2:27 to go after a Jeffries three off a Jackson assist. Rogers answered with a pair of free throws at the 2:08 mark before White threw down an emphatic dunk with 1:45 to go to tie the game at 84 all. It remained there until Thomas made the first shot of overtime to move it to 86-84.
The Eagles shot 44.6 percent from the floor in the game while winning the rebound battle 59-37. That total is the third-highest team rebound performance in the modern history of the program.
Rogers topped all scorers with 31 points, eight rebounds, three assists and five steals.
Jordyn Turner-Durley finished with 18 points and five rebounds in his Faulkner debut.
Gabriel Rivera had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. White ended with nine points and five boards to go along with two blocks. Thomas contributed seven points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in 26 minutes off the bench.
Faulkner (1-0) finishes the Jimmy Faulkner Classic Saturday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Talladega.
