MONTEVALLO, Ala. – In their first home game of the 2014-15 season, the University of Montevallo men's basketball team was able to get back in the win column, using strong performances by their senior leaders to earn the commanding 94-63 victory over Carver College.
Opening things up and setting the tone for the night, Larry Slaughter had the first four points of the contest, grabbing offensive rebounds on back-to-back possessions and forcing the visiting Cougars to call timeout right as the game began.
Slaughter went on to finish with his fourth double-double in six games this year, and this one was the most impressive of them all. Slaughter was above 20 in each category, grabbing 22 boards, including nine offensive rebounds, and had 21 points to pace the Falcons in just 28 minutes on the court.
The Falcons shot an incredible 67.7% from the field in the second half to pull away from the Cougars, who stayed within single digits for the majority of the opening half. It was just a six-point game as the teams went to the locker rooms for halftime, but UM's offense was firing on all cylinders in the second half, putting up 60 points and outscoring the visitors by 25 in the final 20 minutes.
Montevallo would never trail, or even allow the Cougars to tie things up, in this matchup.
In addition to Slaughter, seniors Shykeem Jackson and Ryan May also had big nights for Montevallo. Jackson had 19 points and six rebounds, taking 12 three-point shots.
May hit at least half of his shots from long distance for the second straight game, hitting four of his eight attempts. He finished with 19 points to go along with a game-high seven assists.
Assists were a key in this game, as the Falcons had three times as many assists as Carver. Montevallo had 24 assists in the game, while the Cougars had just eight.
Parker Role had his first career double-double coming off the bench. The freshman from Atlanta, Ga. had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the sixth game of his collegiate career.
In his first start for Montevallo, Linwood Ross Jr. had eight points, as did fellow starter Malik Fields.
Cam Wiehe, Tazz Marbury, and Ryan Carroll also joined in on the scoring, chipping in a combined nine points off the bench.
Carver's Donovan Gardner led the Cougars (0-7) with a game-high 24 points.
Montevallo (2-4) is back at home this Saturday, November 29. Another Georgia team will make the trip west, as the West Georgia Wolves will make their way to Trustmark Arena for a 3:30 p.m. CST tip-off.
