Sometimes, all it takes is a deep breath and a reset to find the rhythm.

After a slow start, Faith Christian got things going in the second quarter, then caught fire in the third period Tuesday on its way to a 73-49 win over Northern Illinois Christian Conference rival Quad Cities Christian in Grand Detour.

The Falcons (9-2, 6-0 NICC) closed the first half with a 16-8 run to take the lead, then answered a couple of quick baskets from the Eagles out of halftime with a 16-0 surge to pull away.

“Honestly, just slowing down and letting the game come to us was big,” senior guard Carson Bivins said. “We were just so rushed early on, and we had to slow down and settle into our game. The post opened that up. We’d get it in there, then we’d go back out, and we just played inside-out.”

Junior center Logan Baker was a force down low for Faith, racking up a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds to go with three assists and three blocks in essentially two-and-a-half quarters of court time.

The offense ran through Baker in the second and third periods. The Falcons guards fed him on the low block for strong post moves to the basket, then once he hit a few point-blank shots, the defense started collapsing on him and he’d kick it back out to an open shooter for a jumper or drive to the basket.

“That’s essential because when we get it down to him, it opens everyone else up. It opens the cuts, it opens the outside shots, and it gets him going,” Bivins said. “Really, no one can stop him; he’s so big, and we just feed him and he goes to work, and then it just opens everything up on offense.”

Rebounding and turnovers also played a huge role in the game. Faith out-rebounded QCC 44-23, turning 23 offensive rebounds into a 26-2 scoring edge in second-chance points. The Falcons also forced 23 turnovers while committing just 12.

“Rebounding is really big for us, and we do a lot of rebounding drills in practice. It’s helping a lot,” Baker said. “Just our teamwork, really, and our competitive defense really led us through. Then on offense, trying to have that pass-and-kick action, keep the ball moving, attack the defense, rebound our misses.”

The teams were tied 12-12 after the opening quarter, and QCC (4-1, 1-1) led 19-17 after a driving layup and a spinning 3-pointer by Tanner Arrington midway through the second quarter. But Faith scored the next nine points and took a 33-27 lead into halftime.

Alijah Zentic scored on a drive, then stole the ensuing inbounds pass for a layup to cut the Eagles’ deficit to 33-31 just 12 seconds into the second half, but that seemed to spark the Falcons. They reeled off the next 16 points – including a no-look pass from Jaxen Coester to Baker for a layup and a pair of Bivins 3s – to take control.

All 15 Falcons recorded a stat of some kind, with 11 different scorers and 12 different rebounders. Bivins hit three 3s and scored 17 points to go with three rebounds and two steals, and his brother Brady Bivins stuffed the stat sheet with nine points, five rebounds, four steals, two assists and a block. Coester had four points, five rebounds and five assists, Kevin Webb added six points and four rebounds, and Aaron Webb and Vander Bodzioch (3 rebounds) each scored four points.

“It’s amazing, just great to see everybody play well. Our teamwork was phenomenal, and our brotherhood is just so close,” Carson Bivins said. “We’ve got a close-knit group of guys, and it was great to see the bench guys go in and get some good minutes.”

Arrington hit five 3s and scored a game-high 23 points to go with a team-high six rebounds for QCC. Bayler Garant had nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals, Zentic added eight points and three steals, and Koltin Wolf chipped in seven points and four rebounds.

“We had a big turnover after last year – we lost all of our height – so this has been a new team evolving to a new system. We were able to hang with them early, but Faith is a good team, and if you don’t match them offensively, momentum builds for them,” QCC coach Scott Karl said. “We knew this was possible, but we have some good film to look at to get ready for Round 2 [later this season].”