COLUMBUS, Ga. – University of Montevallo men's basketball coach Danny Young has seen his share of close games throughout his coaching career, but few will be as memorable as the Falcons' 85-80 win over Francis Marion University in the Peach Belt Conference tournament quarterfinals March 7 at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center on the Columbus State University campus.
Young picked up career win No. 300 as he guided the Falcons, the No. 1 seed in the West Division, to a semifinal matchup against East No. 2 seed GRU Augusta. The semifinal contest is scheduled for Saturday, March 8 at 6 p.m. EST/5 p.m. CST.
"It's been a great run," Young said. "You always want to have a great season every year. We've had a lot of great players who buy in to what you want to do. It's been a lot of fun."
The Patriots made Young and the Falcons sweat the ending, holding on to a three-point lead with 1:37 remaining before Montevallo closed the game with a 8-0 run.
"It's that time of the year, tournament play," Young said. "You've got to be prepared to move on."
Junior Troran Brown, the Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year, led the Falcons (23-4) with 29 points and a career-high 12 rebounds as he posted his seventh double-double of the season.
Junior Larry slaughter added 21 points and 12 boards as he posted the second double-double of his career. Slaughter finished 9-of-11 from the floor in the victory.
Senior Orlando Brazier added 15 points and eight rebounds, while junior Shykeem Jackson contributed seven points. Junior Darius Stowers added four points off the bench, while fellow juniors Kimani Key and Da-Juan Cooper added three points.
A layup by Slaughter gave the Falcons an early 8-2 lead with 16 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Falcons took their first double-digit lead following a layup by Brown with 13:21 remaining in the opening half, which gave Montevallo a 16-5 lead.
Key drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 9:51 left in the opening half to give the Falcons a 28-11 lead.
Francis Marion responded with a 23-5 run to take its only lead in the opening half, 34-33, following a jumper by Evrik Gary with 1:28 left in the first half. Montevallo closed the half with a 4-0 run and carried a 37-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Falcons opened the second half with a 12-7 run, capped with a pair of free throws by Brazier, to extend their lead to 49-41 with 14:38 remaining in the game.
The Patriots came back with a 11-4 run of their own to trim the deficit to 53-52 following a layup by Gary with 12:15 left in the game.
Gary made a jumper with 9:50 remaining in the game to give the Patriots a 58-57 advantage. The Patriots extended their lead to 63-59 following a 3-pointer by Gary with 8:12 remaining before Montevallo responded with a quick 6-0 run to take a two-point lead on a layup by Stowers.
Francis Marion came back with a 8-2 run of its own, capped with a 3-pointer by David Brown, which gave the Patriots a 71-67 advantage with 5:18 remaining in the game.
The Patriots continued to hold the lead, stretching it to 80-77 on a layup by Gary with 1:37 remaining. However, the Falcons closed the game with a 8-0 run, taking the lead for good on a pair of free throws by sophomore Ryan May with 45.3 seconds remaining.
