CLEVELAND, Miss. --- The Montevallo men's basketball team flew into the postseason in style, shooting the lights out in an electrifying 86-70 win over Delta State on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Falcons improved to 13-14 and 11-8 in the Gulf South Conference. Delta State fell to 10-14 and 9-9 in the GSC. With a win in the final regular season game at Auburn-Montgomery, coupled with a loss by West Florida, the Falcons could possibly host a first round game in the GSC tournament.

On Saturday, the Falcons were on fire, shooting over 60% from the field in the game and better than 50% from 3-point range. UM Falcons torched the Statesmen in both halves, combining to knock down 35-of-58 fieldgoals (60.3%) and 12-of-24 3-pointers (50%).

In the first half, the Falcons were 19-for-33 from the field and 7-for-19 from deep. The result was a 46-33 lead at halftime. The Statesmen tried to rally in the second half, cutting the Falcons lead to 10 on a pair of occasions. However, the UM bombs kept falling and DSU was helpless to stop it. The Falcons led by as much as 19 points before settling for the final margin of victory.

Guard Braxton Bertolette led the onslaught with 22 points and seven rebounds. He was 9-for-15 from the field with two 3-pointers. Senior Xavier Malcom hit four 3-pointers and was 5-for-9 from the field, finishing with 15 points. James McNeil and Jason King were also 5--for -9 from field and each finished with 12 points, while Aaris-Monte Bonds was 5-for-7 and chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds.

#####