KINGSPORT, Tenn. - Faulkner (5-4) dropped a couple of close contests at The Show, going toe-to-toe with No. 16 Northwestern (Iowa) before falling away late Friday and seeing a late surge from Oakland City (Ind.) pull the Mighty Oaks away at the Meadowview Resort.

NORTHWESTERN (Iowa) 82, FAULKNER 69

The Eagles faced one of the best offenses in the nation and held them largely in check, holding the Red Raiders off the board for the first three minutes. The teams traded runs and leads until the 3:05 mark in the first half when Northwestern took the lead before extending it to six at half.

Jordyn Turner-Durley's layup with 17:36 to play put the Eagles back in a tied game as it stayed within two possessions for a couple minutes before a lid fell on the Faulkner basket. Missing five shots and turning the ball over twice while NWC scored on six consecutive trips and shots to expand the lead to 14 with 9:40 to go ahead of a KJ Rogers layup to bandage the bleeding 14 seconds later. Faulkner could not get the score any closer than a nine point spread the rest of the way. 

Rogers led the floor with 23 points while Joe Webster and Gabriel Rivera had 11 and 12, respectively. Rogers also stole a game-high six times. Tanner Vogel led the effort on the glass with eight.

OAKLAND CITY (Ind.) 89, FAULKNER 83

Faulkner saw electric performances off the bench as Francois-Dony Baba, Levi White and Gideon Harris dropped career-highs Saturday but it was not enough to keep pace with Oakland City's duo of Dior Davis and Kalik Sharpe who combined for 53 and a 10-block defensive effort from Lohan Stephane Djiya. 

The Eagles started slow, falling behind 9-3, but tied it back up at 11 apiece before Baba put the Eagles ahead from the stripe with 12:35 to go in the half. The Mighty Oaks responded with an 8-0 run but Faulkner bounced right back to take the lead a couple of times but the foes scored the last four of the half to take a two point lead into halftime. 

Oakland City got the first three baskets of the second half to jump to an eight point lead. Baba put Faulkner back in the lead with a three with 14:42 to go. With nearly a three minute stretch of one-possession leads on either side, Rivera's triple with 11:51 to go put Faulkner up 59-58, but the Mighty Oaks replied with a 13-2 run to lead 72-61 with 7:13 to play. Rivera cut the deficit to 80-77 with 2:03 to go with another three-pointer, but a 6-0 OCU run kept the Eagles from completing the comeback. 

Faulkner dominated the offensive glass with a 21-8 advantage to score 16 second chance points. 

Baba finished with 17, White with 16 and Harris with 15 for their career highs as Rivera led the team with 20. Rogers saw his eight game streak of double figures scoring, dating back to the conference tournament last season, snapped. 

The 50 points off the bench is the most since Oct. 27, 2022 when the non-starters scored 57 against Huntingdon.

The Eagles look to snap a three game skid against (RV) Mobile Dec. 6 at home in SSAC play.  Read Full Article