MONTGOMERY, Ala. – For the second time in as many nights, Faulkner pulled out a narrow overtime victory over a school from the HBCUAC. The Eagles relied on a late spurt to pull out an 86-83 victory over Talladega Saturday night in an electric capper to the Jimmy Faulkner Classic.
Faulkner started overtime with a 4-0 run that saw layups from
Jordyn Turner-Durley and K.J. Rogers to put the Eagles up 77-73 with 3:43 to play. The Tornadoes got back in it with a pair of Shaun Walker free throws and another from Tre Simmons. Talladega took the lead at the 2:14 mark of overtime when Simmons knocked down a triple. Simmons drew the contact on the shot and got the foul call, allowing him to make the free throw to put the Tornadoes up 80-77.
Faulkner answered on the other end 14 seconds later with a Turner-Durley jumper to cut it to 80-79.
Jerome Thomas threw down a putback dunk at 1:26 to go to put the Eagles up 81-80.
Simmons got the Tornadoes back on top with a pair of free throws to set his team ahead 82-81.
The Eagles took the lead back again with 48 seconds to play when Turner-Durley dished to
Gabriel Rivera for the three that lifted the Eagles to an 84-82 advantage. Jalen Bing-Wallace made a free throw with 35 seconds to play to cut it to 84-83. Rogers got back to the line with nine seconds to go and knocked down both shots to get himself to a career high 35 points and put Faulkner up 86-83.
Faulkner trailed 69-62 with 4:21 to go in regulation after an Arthur Williams free throw. Rogers made a free throw ahead of a Bing-Wallace layup to set the margin at 71-65 with 3:38 to go. Kamal Green added a free throw 15 seconds later to get the Eagles to a five-point deficit. Rogers knocked down a jumper with 1:59 to go to leave it at 71-68.
After two Bing-Wallace free throws with 1:39 left moved it to 73-68. Rogers came through for his team again with 43 seconds left when he made a jumper to cut it to 73-70. Turner-Durley added a free throw with 15 seconds left to narrow it to 73-71.
With six seconds to go, Rogers knocked down a contested make to tie the game only to see the bucket waived off due to a timeout call prior to the shot. When Faulkner came out of the timeout, Rogers attacked the basket again and looked for the game-tying layup when a Tornado defender swooped in and swatted the ball into the bleachers with a tenth of a second left. The official called goaltending and counted the basket, forcing overtime.
Talladega shot 85 percent from the floor in the second half, making 17 of 20 shots to win the frame 42-36. The Tornadoes won points in the paint 40-26 while Faulkner took second chance points 17-13. The Eagles took the rebounding battle 43-32.
Rogers topped all scorers with his 35 to go along with four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Turner-Durley added 15 points while Rivera had 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists and four steals.
Faulkner (2-0) travels to Lebanon, Tenn. Wednesday to take on Cumberland University at 7 p.m.
