It was simply a frustrating night for the William Carey men’s basketball team after losing to Faulkner University 82-50 on Monday.
The Crusaders’ offense struggled after being without five players who had either missed the game due to COVID issues or injuries. That also included leading scorer Zarkeichious Martin, who averages 12.7 points, along with Dajon Whitworth, who averages eight points per game. William Carey was also without William Gaines Jr., John Rawls and Chris Leonard.
“We weren’t ever in synch, and we had guys playing in different positions,” William Carey coach Steve Knight said. “Faulkner is a team that is going to execute really well and play hard. On the flip side, we had guys playing abnormal positions. We didn’t really execute the way we needed to.
“It was disappointing because our last three practices were really, really good. It was a high energy level, and we were just flat as far as how hard we played. You didn’t expect that, particularly when you are playing at home. It could have been guys were a little bit out of shape because they were off for two weeks.”
Faulkner quickly jumped out to a 22-8 lead after going on a 10-2 run early in the first half. The Eagles then built the lead to 31-12, but William Carey (6-6, 1-3) narrowed the deficit with a 9-0 run. Yet Faulkner went into the half holding a 39-23 lead and never looked back. In the first half, WCU shot just 26.5% from the floor compared to Faulkner’s 51.6%
“They were making shots, and we weren’t,” Knight said. “Our offense was ineffective because we weren’t moving the ball ourselves. We were settling for one pass, one on one moves, or throwing it to the post. The ball never got reversed, and we didn’t have good spacing. Of course, we weren’t making shots either. (Faulkner) is a good shooting team.”
Faulkner (11-3, 3-1) continued to have the hot hand as the Eagles tacked on five 3-pointers in the second half while shooting 47.2%. The Eagles made the game out of reach after going on a 17-4 run to extend their lead to 62-31.
By the end of the night, Faulkner shot 49.3%, was 12 of 30 beyond the arc, and outrebounded the Crusaders 50-32. Leading Faulkner in scoring was Jalon Perry, who scored 19 points while C.J. Hines scored 17 points.
Leading William Carey in scoring was Arturro Bingham, who scored 17 points. Jvari Thigpen also reached double digits after scoring 11 points and having three blocks.
“We have got to revaluate a little bit on who is taking the 3-pointer and who is not because I think it is hurting us,” Knight said. “I think this (loss) is going to be good, from a film standpoint, to sit down and show them what happened. Some of them don’t realize it until they see it. We’ll spend time over the next couple of days breaking it down and hopefully getting them to understand the mistakes that they made.”
The Crusaders will return to action on the road against Dalton State College with tip-off set for 1 p.m.
