MONTEVALLO, Ala. — The sun is starting to set on the 2019-20 men's basketball season, but Montevallo's 76-74 win over Christian Brothers on Saturday helped the Falcons keep hope alive for a game next month.

"That's what I told the team," said Montevallo men's basketball head coach Danny Young. "I told them if we didn't win this one today, then I didn't think we had a chance to get into the postseason."

Just like so many games since the turn of the calendar, Saturday's game came down to the final horn.

As Xavier Malcom, who finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including knocking down three 3-point shots, hit a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left to push Montevallo's lead to 75-71.

After Brad Miller connected on a 3-point basket with 5.4 seconds left in the second half to make it 75-74, Ivan Smith, who finished with nine points and nine assists, hit the backend of two free throws to keep the door open for the Bucs.

Daryl Lewis fired a potential game-winning 3-point shot in the closing seconds, but it came up short, so Mitchell Mays grabbed the ball and tried to put it through the net to force an overtime period. But the ball rolled along the back of the iron and onto the court to snap an eight-game losing streak for Montevallo and push the Falcons' Gulf South Conference record back to .500 at 8-8.

"It just feels great to get a win," Young said. "We just needed a win. We've been in a lot of games where we have been up in the last two minutes and we couldn't close, so at least we finally closed tonight."

Montevallo's road to the postseason doesn't get any easier as the Falcons now travel to Valdosta, Ga., to face the Blazers on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. CT. VSU, which currently sits as the No. 1 seed for the GSC tournament, is sporting a 12-game winning streak and a 14-2 mark in conference play.