Faulkner Defeats AUM

Faulkner guard Bryant Murray (23), shown being defended by AUM's Jamal Richardson, scored 9 points in the Eagles' 57-48 win over the Senators Thursday night.
-- Lloyd Gallman
 
In front of a boisterous home crowd Jim Sanderson's 23rd-ranked Faulkner Eagles clamped down defensively on the Auburn Montgomery Senators Thursday night, earning a hard-fought 57-48 Southern States Athletic Conference victory at Tine Davis Gymnasium.
     The Eagles (8-1 overall and 4-0 in the SSAC) never trailed in the game that knocked the Senators from the ranks of the unbeaten. Relying on a smothering full-court press for most of the night, Faulkner forced AUM into 26 turnovers and held the visitors to 29 percent shooting. The relentless defensive effort allowed the Eagles to survive a cold-shooting outing of their own, having made only 37 percent of their shots in the cross-town rivalry matchup.
     Senior guard Jammie Evans led the way for the Eagles with 13 points, while Bryant Murray added nine, Raul Cardenas seven and the trio of Ernest Jordan, Jon Uriarte and Aaron Greenwood six apiece. Uriarte also grabbed eight rebounds for Faulkner, with Richarde McCray and Brandon Vaughn snagging six each. Robert Johnson paced AUM with 12 points. The Senators' Joseph Manuel added 10, all coming in the first half.
     Faulkner built an early lead that stretched to 10 at 25-15 with 3:54 left in the half before the Senators made one of their only serious runs of the night. Back-to-back three pointers by Manuel in the final minute of the half trimmed the Eagles' advantage to 30-27 at the break.
     "We were probably more dominant in the first half then we were in the second, but we weren't able to capitalize on the turnovers we were forcing,'' Sanderson said. "You want turnovers to result in easy points, but they weren't for us and that is one of the reasons they were right in the game at halftime.''
     Faulkner kept the AUM offense in a vice early in the second half as well, starting the final 20 minutes on an 11-2 run that re-established control of the game. The Senators made just one basket in the first 10 minutes of the second half and trailed 47-32 with 7:19 to play. A nine-point run of its own brought AUM back to within six points in the final minutes, but the Senators could get no closer in falling to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference.
     "I can sum this game up for you real easy,'' Faulkner head coach Larry Chapman said. "We got a good, old-fashioned butt-whipping. It wasn't about chances or opportunities. We weren't ready to handle their pressure and the intensity of playing in this environment - for whatever reason - and we simply got our butts kicked.''
     Faulkner hosts Mobile Saturday afternoon at 2.