ROME, Ga. - The Montevallo men's basketball team finished their regular season slate in the Gulf South Conference with a weekend sweep of the Shorter University Hawks Saturday, Feb 27 finishing the road series 89-79 to run the team's record above .500 just in time for the postseason. The Falcons had already assured themselves a postseason bid and will travel to the University of Alabama-Huntsville, the no. 1 seed from the West Division, on Tuesday, March 2.

UM built their lead slowly, but surely in the first half. Senior Xavier Malcom was automatic from the field all afternoon, but particularly in the first half hitting four three pointers going 8-10 from the field for a jaw-dropping 21 points before the break. Malcom's hot streak extended to the rest of the team as well as the Falcons drilled nine triples in the half.
His three pointer with 6:59 to go gave Montevallo a 33-23 lead and they led by as many as 12, but the Hawks were able to trim the deficit to 42-35 at the half.

The Falcons used a balanced effort and played even better on offense after halftime. They grew the lead to as many as 13 with Braxton Bertolette netting 14 points, but Shorter got hot and clipped the lead to as little as one point, but UM never gave up the lead. James McNeil, Bob Carroll and Bertolette all hit big shots to preserve their advantage and the team got big stops late in the game for the second day in a row to pull out the road win.

Xavier Malcom led all scorers with 26 points while Braxton Bertolette finished with 17. Bob Carroll had his typical all-around game with 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists. McNeil and Mason Shiflett posted11 points each. Shannon Woody led the team with nine rebounds adding eight points.

UP NEXT: Montevallo's game with UAH Tuesday, March 2 will begin at 7 p.m.