If you dig a little deeper, however, you’ll find that they have speed in common. Motley Crue claimed to be “Too Fast for Love”, while Pfeiffer proved to be too fast for Livingstone College on Friday night in their 104-83 thrashing of the Blue Bears in the first round of the Quality of Life Classic.

Pfeiffer meets Catawba tonight in the championship game.

“Our speed, quickness, and pressure bothered them,” said Pfeiffer head coach Dave Davis, whose Falcons improved to 5-1 on the young season. “Our speed is a great advantage. We have to use that, and I thought we used that very effectively against Livingstone.”

Two Falcons were especially effective on Friday night. Nem Sovic terrorized Livingstone on offense, while the speedy Terrence Baxter caged the Blue Bears on defense.

Sovic finished with 26 points (21 in the first half) and 8 rebounds in 22 minutes and Baxter pilfered five steals and dished out nine assists on the night. Those huge efforts didn’t go unnoticed by Davis.

“Nem Sovic was incredible,” said Davis. “”Our guys did a great job of getting him the basketball and he’s really responded for us. He had eight rebounds to go with his 26 points. That’s just a terrific job.

Terrence Baxter didn’t score a lot of points for us tonight, but he did a great job delivering the ball inside and a great job on defense. He really kept the game up-tempo for us.”

Things didn’t start out very up-tempo for either team, however. After nearly five minutes of play, Pfeiffer had scored only five points—but still led 5-4.

The Falcons kicked it into high gear at the 16:45 mark, going on a 13-4 run that put them up 18-8 with 11:56 left in the first half. Emory Smith and Sovic led the charge for Pfeiffer, combining for nine points during the run.

Pfeiffer then pushed its lead to 34-18 at the 7:22 mark before Livingstone embarked on a 12-2 spurt that pulled the Bears within six.

Shawn Wiseman fueled the run with consecutive 3s, while Sheldon Payne took it inside to collect four points during the run. When the smoke had cleared, Livingstone trailed 36-30 with 5:29 left in the half.

Livingstone’s quick rally must have irked Pfeiffer, Sovic in particular. The Falcons blasted out on a 23-12 run to close the half with a 59-42 lead. Sovic hit from all angles during the run, personally scoring the first 15 Falcon points of the spurt.

“He’s such a good offensive player,” said Davis. We thought their big guys could beat us, so we wanted to go right at them. Nem is our ultimate weapon to do that, and he did it.”

Sovic and his teammates continued to “do it” at the opening of the second half, as Pfeiffer used the first five minutes to pump its lead to 27 at 75-48 with 14:54 left to play.

Livingstone would battle back several times, coming as close as 19 at 78-59 with 9:39 left in the game. But the Falcons, who played 12 men, maintained their chokehold on the lead and pushed it to as much as 31 before winning 104-83.

Davis found his ability to use 12 men both fun and advantageous.

“It’s just so much fun to coach a team where you get so much production from so many players,” said Davis. “It’s almost 12 interchangeable guys. I think that’s a huge advantage for us. I’ve never coached a team where that’s true, although last year’s team was close. It keeps everybody fresh, and it’s a team effort.”

Pfeiffer will need those fresh legs when it faces Catawba in the championship game tonight.

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NOTES: Sovic garnered his 26 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the floor and 8-for-10 shooting from the charity stripe. ... Dusty Mason, Jarrell Nobles, and Jason Buff all scored 12 for Pfeiffer, while Smith notched 11. Livingstone was paced by Willie Rouse’s 26. Payne collected 12 points for the Blue Bears and Wiseman dialed up 11 digits. ... The Falcons hit 11 three-pointers, four by Buff and three by Smith. ... Pfeiffer’s Joe Holmes sat out the contest, nursing a nagging achilles tendon injury.

PFEIFFER (104) — Sovic 26, Mason 12, Bailey 9, Baxter 2, Smith 11, Nobles 12, Buff 12, Bell 8, Jackson 5, Brew 2, Moody 3, Cook 2, Cole.

LIVINGSTONE (83) — Payne 12, Smith 1, Gidney 16, Rouse 26, Wiseman 11, White 3, Black, Riddick 2, Nash, Wilson 5, Wells, Smith 7, Richardson.

Pfeiffer 59 45 — 104