MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Leading for over 38 minutes, the Eagles controlled the defensive end of the floor in the first half with hot shooting on the other end to ride a comfortable lead to 81-67 win over Montreat Friday afternoon at Tine Davis Gymnasium.
Kamal Green II knocked down a jumper at 14:27 in the first to start a 20-3 run over the next seven minutes to take a 10-10 tie to 30-13. In that stretch Faulkner found a pair of threes from Francois Dony-Baba and six different scorers on 8-14 shooting and 4-5 from deep while limiting Montreat to a single basket. The Cavaliers whittled the lead back a little but Faulkner took a 44-26 lead into halftime.
Halfway through the second half,
Gideon Harris underhand tossed a lob to
KJ Rogers for an alley-oop to make it a 22 point game but Montreat mounted a 16-4 run to cut the lead quickly to 10 just three minutes later. Rivera answered with a three to stop the bleeding at 6:28. Rogers and
Jerome Thomas combined for the next five points to open it back to an 18-point lead and make the last four minutes very comfortable.
Gabriel Rivera–who played against his old team in a gym where he scored 22 on 6-7 shooting to upset the Eagles in 2023–caught fire in the second half, shooting 75 percent from the floor and from deep for 15 points with three steals to hold the Eagles in the lead when the Cavaliers made a charge. He led the floor with 18 points in the game. He also led the floor in the 2023 game.
Jordyn Turner-Durley scored 12,
Francois-Dony Baba scored 11, and Green 10 as 11 different players scored.
The Eagles had their third straight game with 40 percent or better shooting from the floor and over 37 percent from deep and head to Christmas break on a four game win streak.
Faulkner will head to Blue Mountain to ring in the New Year on Jan. 1 at 7:30 p.m. in conference play.
