CLEVELAND, Ga. - Truett-McConnell battled from eight points down in the second half then survived three 3-point tries in the final seconds to escape with a 78-75 victory over Faulkner here Friday night in a Southern States Athletic Conference cross-divisional game at Bear Gymnasium.

The Eagles (7-7 overall, 0-5 SSAC) led 61-53 with 9:43 to play before Bernard Nuigent ignited the Bears' rally. Nuigent had only three points before catching fire, scoring seven straight for Truett-McConnell to close the gap to 1 with six minutes left. The junior guard's three-point play gave the Bears the lead with 2:12 left, and his two free throws pushed margin to five with 34 seconds on the clock.

Faulkner's Chris Palmore made a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left to cut the margin to 3 and when Duke Phillips forced a turnover off the inbounds play the Eagles still had life. Patrick Dugger, Palmore and Jamarious Alderson all missed potential game-tying 3-pointers as Faulkner's SSAC misfortunes continued.

"I don't know what you say to a team when your 0-5 in the league and all the losses have been so close," Faulkner head coach Jim Sanderson said. "I thought we just didn't get the job done in transition defense. They beat us down the floor and we just couldn't make the plays to hold them off. It is what it is, and we just have to keep our heads up and keep on working hard."

Palmore led Faulkner with 16 points, while Decorey Jones added 13 and Adam Okechukwu 10 for the Eagles. Truett-McConnell (8-7 overall, 3-2 SSAC) got 20 points from Anthoney Dorsey, 19 from Roderick Bombard, 15 from Nuigent and 12 from Brandon Joiner. The Eagles outshot the Bears 50 percent to 39 percent, but were outrebounded 40-30, with 12 of Truett-McConnell's boards coming on the offensive end.

Faulkner trailed by five points early, but hot shooting brought the Eagles back, building as much as a nine-point lead in the opening 20 minutes. Palmore and Jones led the way, combining for 15 points in the first half, which ended with the Eagles holding a 37-31 advantage.

Faulkner travels to Central, S.C., Saturday afternoon to take on Southern Wesleyan. The game tips off at 4.