KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Faulkner's season began in October with a pair of overtime home wins and ended Thursday with a double overtime loss in the Round of 16 at the NAIA National Tournament. Faulkner's season came to an end with a 96-88 loss to Benedictine Mesa.
The definitive sequence of the contest came with 49.6 left in the second overtime when Isaiah Howard drained a three while getting fouled and cashed in the ensuing free throw. The play put the Redhawks up 91-86 and left Faulkner working from underneath.
The Eagles briefly snagged the lead in the second overtime when
Tanner Vogel drove, caught a
Jordyn Turner-Durley pass and laid it up for the 86-85 advantage. An 8-0 Benedictine run over the next two minutes swung the game, highlighted by the Howard sequence.
Faulkner lost
Levi White to fouls with 3:28 to go in the second overtime after having lost
KJ Rogers to the same with 2:39 to go in the first bonus period.
The Eagles appeared poised to take the game in regulation when Rogers knocked down two free throws to put his team up 77-75 with 2.9 left. Less than a second later, a foul call put the Redhawks on the line where they were able to tie it.
White opened the overtime with an offensive rebound that allowed him to turn a Turner-Durley pass into a layup for the 79-77 lead. White later knocked down an elbow jumper off a Turner-Durley assist with 2:18 left to move the lead to 81-77. A 6-0 run by Benedictine Mesa put the Redhawks back up by two with 43 seconds on the clock. White again parlayed a Turner-Durley dime into a bucket when he caught the pass and slammed it home for a breakaway dunk.
Mesa came out of a timeout with 16.6 left but missed the shot, giving the Eagles the ball back with two seconds left. The desperation heave missed, triggering the second overtime.
Faulkner started the second half on its heels, watching a one-point lead quickly fade as the Redhawks went on a 12-3 run in the first four minutes of the period. A quartet of threes vaulted Benedictine Mesa to a 55-47 advantage.
The Eagles whittled away at it but could not get back within one possession until Rogers drained a three off a Turner-Durley pass with 3:15 to play, cutting the deficit to 71-68. A White layup 20 seconds later left it at 71-70. After a pair of BenU free throws,
Francois-Dony Baba converted a layup to pull Faulkner back to within one. Baba later hit a jumper with 1:12 left to vault the Eagles to the 75-74 lead.
Faulkner trailed by as many as 12 in the first half and did not lead until the final buzzer sounded to send the teams to their respective locker rooms. The Eagles worked from underneath and tied the game at 38 on a Baba bucket with 1:43 left until halftime. Three free throws from the Redhawks put Benedictine-Mesa back in front.
Kamal Green II then drilled a three out of the corner with 22 seconds left to tie it again.
With the Eagle bench pleading for one stop, Isaiah Howard refused to oblige. He ripped through a jumper with just over five seconds remaining. Faulkner quickly inbounded the ball and pushed it ahead to Baba. He stepped up and launched it from about 36 feet, draining the bucket to put the Eagles up 44-43 through 20 minutes of play.
Faulkner trailed 28-16 with 11:58 left in the half before mounting a 17-6 run to get back in the game. During the stretch, the Eagles forced six turnovers while utilizing tight on-ball defense and a trapping halfcourt look. Despite being outrebounded 23-19 in the frame, the Eagles won second-chance points 17-8.
Rogers topped the Eagles with 17 points to go along with five assists. White finished with 16 points and nine rebounds off the bench while Baba added 14 points.
Faulkner finishes its season at 22-10.
