GRACEVILLE, Fla. – It took all 45 minutes of game clock to decide it, but Faulkner held on to drop Florida Memorial 86-83 Saturday at the Baptist University of Florida Shootout.
The Eagles got a
Jamarious Martin jumper with 3:19 left in regulation to go up 72-69. Quincy White answered with a layup on the other end to cut it the Eagle lead to one. A
Jordyn Turner-Durley free throw with 2:50 left moved the advantage to two before Oladele Oladitan stole the ball and took it the distance to tie the game with 2:11 to play. A
Levi White steal with 1:31 left preserved the tie. As FMU threatened with 13 seconds remaining,
Levi White rose up to reject Quincy White's potential game-winning layup and send the game to overtime.
Faulkner struck first in the bonus session when Turner-Durley dished off to
Gideon Harris for the three to put his team up 76-73.
Levi White later added a layup off an offensive rebound to move the advantage to 78-73.
Kamal Green II later cashed a Harris pass in for a fastbreak layup to move the Faulkner lead to 80-73 with 2:57 remaining.
After an Oladele layup moved the margin back to five, Martin hit a pair of free throws. The Eagles twice moved the lead back to seven again with a layup from Harris and a jumper from Martin.
With 32 seconds left in overtime, the Lions made one last charge. Deryl Williams hit a pair of free throws to cut it to 86-81. Just two seconds later, Quincy White converted a layup to get the game back to one possession. The Lions got two more possessions in the final 20 seconds but were unable to take advantage.
Faulkner got 13 points from
Levi White in the first half to help it carry a 34-32 lead into halftime. Florida Memorial took control in the early part of the game's second half as it got the lead up to five on two occasions. Martin's jumper with 12:17 remaining ignited an 11-4 run that put the Eagles back in front.
FMU got its advantage back to five by the 7:01 mark of the second half before Harris knocked down a three off a Martin dime. Harris then made a free throw before
Levi White converted a layup to put the Eagles back on top with 6:13 left.
A Derryl Williams three volleyed the lead back to the lions before Harris made a free throw to cut it to one. Turner-Durley's triple with 5:14 left vaulted Faulkner back to a 68-66 advantage. Faulkner got a pair of Harris free throws to get it back to a three-point lead with 4:39. Martin later made a jumper to get it back to three again.
Faulkner committed 20 turnovers in the game, allowing Florida Memorial a 26-13 scoring advantage off the gifts. The Lions also outpaced Faulkner's bench 29-6 while taking points in the paint 54-44 and fastbreak points 22-9.
The Eagles shot 51 percent from the field in the game while making 31 percent of their three-point attempts. Florida Memorial countered with 53 percent from the field and 33 percent from three.
Martin paced Faulkner with 21 points and six assists. Harris added 21 points. White had 17 points and 12 rebounds to go along with two steals and a pair of blocks. Turner-Durley added 12 points and five assists.
Faulkner (4-1) opens SSAC play Thursday when it hosts Tennessee Southern at 7:30 p.m.
