By Nathan Deen
Published on November 7, 2007
After PJC’s 66-65 home win over Faulkner State Wednesday night, Pirate forward Miles Taylor praised the crowd at Hartsell Arena, whom may have been a major reason why Faulkner State guard David Johnson missed the potential game-winning free throws.
“We needed them [the crowd] tonight,” said Taylor.
Taylor, who finished with 14 points, was involved in several key plays that decided the outcome of the game. With less than three minutes to play, Taylor hit a three-point field goal as time expired on the shot clock, giving PJC a five point lead. With 1:02 left in the game, Taylor missed two critical free-throws as PJC lead by only 3, 66-63.
On the next Faulkner State possession, forward Petras Balocka was questionably called for a foul that sent Faulkner State guard Terrence Mitchell to the line. Mitchell made both free throws to make it a one point game.
Faulkner State missed an opportunity to take the lead with less than 10 seconds left and PJC forward Eugene Blue was fouled after grabbing a big rebound. Blue missed the front end of a one-and-one at the foul line and gave Faulkner State a chance to win the game with 4.7 seconds remaining.
Faulkner State point guard Cedric Freeman drove down the court and passed the ball to Johnson for a lay-up attempt but was fouled by Taylor as time expired.
Thus the near deafening noise created by the PJC fans may have been enough to rattle Johnson and PJC escaped with a victory.
After falling behind 20-15 in the first ten minutes of the first half, PJC went on an 18-1 run and had a 40-30 lead at halftime. Balocka helped lead the run and went into halftime as the leading scorer, with 10 points. Balocka finished the game with his second straight double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Forward Jalin Thomas also scored in double figures with 11 points.
Faulkner State (1-1) never gave up and slowly fought their way back into the game by playing aggressive defense and forcing turnovers of which in the second half, PJC had 11. Despite the loss, Faulkner State head coach Jack Robertson was pleased with his team’s effort.
“They did a really good job of hanging in there on the road,” said Robertson
Robertson said the biggest adjustment his team made was the ability to set up their full-court press defense. In the first half they were not able to do that because of missed shots and missed free throws.
Sophomore guards Cedric Freeman and Jonathan Moore led Faulkner state in scoring with 14 points each.
PJC (2-1) had several chances to put the game out of reach but never did. Head coach Paul Swanson described his team’s play in the second half as “sloppy.”
“We’re not playing smart,” said Swanson. “We had three or four chances to blow the game open. We get complacent when we’re ahead. We’re not a good basketball team yet.”
Swanson hopes his team will correct these mistakes before PJC plays their next home game against Delgado Community College on Saturday night at 7:30.