MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Faulkner finished on a 10-3 run Thursday night to close out its home slate with a 75-64 victory over Blue Mountain Christian. The physical contest led to a 29-27 Eagle lead at halftime and gave way to a chippy and foul-filled second half.
The Toppers tallied 14 fouls in the second half and 20 in the game, allowing Faulkner the opportunity to take advantage at the free throw line. The Eagles hit 24 of 25 attempts at the charity stripe including 19 of 20 in the second half.
Faulkner used an 11-2 run to put distance between itself and BMC in the middle portion of the second half. The Eagles got a layup from K.J. Rogers at the 10:42 mark followed by a
Joe Webster make at 10:18. After a pair of Topper free throws,
Jonathan Garcia drained a three.
Maliek Sadler and
Jordan Johnson followed with a pair of free throws apiece to get the advantage to 12 by the 8:13 mark.
Blue Mountain fired back with a 12-4 run to get the game back to 63-59 with 3:02 remaining. From there, Faulkner found the stretch to put the game away. Garcia made two free throws ahead of a
Jeffrey Selden layup. Selden then hit a pair of bonus shots before Garcia repeated the feat. Sadler dished to
Gabriel Rivera for a layup with 30 seconds to play to move the lead back to 12.
Faulkner shot 30.8 percent from the floor in the game including 21.7 percent from beyond the arc. In the second half, 24 of the Eagles' 46 points came at the free throw line. The home team also won the rebound battle 44-40 while forcing 16 turnovers and converting them into 19 points.
Sadler topped the Eagles with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Garcia followed with 14 points while Selden had 13 and Rogers had 12. Rivera added nine points and 10 boards.
Faulkner (20-7, 10-5 SSAC) travels to Mobile Saturday where it will compete for a shot at winning the SSAC West Division. That game is set to tip at 2 p.m.
