Faulkner finishes wild SSAC quarterfinals with win over RedHawks

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (faulknereagles.com) – Faulkner head coach Scott Sanderson had seen top seed William Carey and third seed Dalton State fall earlier in the day, but in addressing his team prior to the fifth-seeded Eagles matchup with fourth seed Martin Methodist he spoke of only one team. His own.

“We knew we had to take care of our own business,” Sanderson said, “regardless of what had already happened.”

Faulkner did just that, turning the tables on the RedHawks, who had dominated the Eagles in the only other meeting between the two teams back in January. Martin Methodist scored the first basket of the game, but Faulkner quickly took control and rarely relinquished it. The RedHawks led the game for only two minutes and 48 seconds, and were never on top in the second half.

“It was one of the most complete games we’ve played all season, and all that really does is give us another opportunity tomorrow,” said Sanderson, whose team has now won 11 of its last 13 games against conference opponents to improve to 18-13 overall.

The Eagles face Loyola (La.) in Friday’s semifinals, with the tipoff set for 7 p.m. The winner of the tournament will receive the SSAC’s second automatic bid, with the first going to regular-season champion William Carey.

Faulkner’s all-conference guards – Di’mar Hill and Nick Drake – were the pacesetters, scoring 23 and 22 points, respectively. Hill added five assists and five rebounds for the Eagles, who statistically flipped the script from their earlier loss to the RedHawks. In the Jan. 2 meeting, won by Martin Methodist 74-62, Faulkner was outshot 53 percent to 36 percent and outrebounded 42-33. In the Eagles’ win Thursday they connected on 49 percent of their shots, while holding their opponent to 42 percent. Faulkner won the battle of the boards 34-32.

Monta Sanford, at 6-2 one of the smallest inside players in the league, added a double-double for Faulkner, scoring 11 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. Logan Jozwiak, who hit three big 3-pointers at key times, had nine points and Lucas Luttrell eight to aid the Eagles’ effort.

“We’ll try to get as much rest as we can tonight, because it will take a great effort against Loyola tomorrow,” said Sanderson, whose team split a pair of games against the Wolfpack this season. “They have a very good team. It should be an entertaining game.”

Martin Methodist, whose season ended with the loss at 17-13, got 21 points from Darius Forrest, 17 from Caleb Chowbay and 10 from Toderick Davis.

Faulkner got off to a fast start, with the undersized Sanford dominating in the paint as the Eagles built a seven-point advantage in the opening four minutes. The RedHawks kept pounding it inside, and Broderick Davis’ driving basket gave Martin Methodist a 28-25 lead with 3:35 left in the half.

Jozwiak’s 3-pointer tied it, and sparked a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to hand Faulkner a double-digit lead. The Eagles were on top 38-30 at halftime, and Martin Methodist never got closer than five in the closing 20 minutes.