MONTEVALLO, Ala. – Montevallo men's basketball added to its hot start in conference play with a 70-66 win over Christian Brothers on Thursday night.
 
Montevallo came out of the gate hot with a 10-4 lead in the first four minutes with a pair of triples from Jaylen Curry and Brandon Fussell. The Falcons then went on a two-minute scoreless streak that was eventually snapped by a Derek Moore lay-in at the 12:46 mark. Montevallo forced a CBU timeout at the 10:37 mark after a Fussell three and a Luke Smith bucket capped a 9-0 UM run that led to a 20-11 Montevallo lead. A third first-half three from Fussell opened a 14-point lead for the Falcons with 8:52 left in the half. Smith added a three from the wing at the 8:05 mark for his seventh point of the night. Finally, a CBU jumper with 5:15 on the clock ended a 15-0 Montevallo run that left the Bucs trailing 37-15. At the 3:04 mark, Moore nailed Montevallo's seventh first-half three-pointer to stretch Montevallo's lead to 42-21 before CBU ended the first half with a three of its own to go into the locker room with a 45-26 UM lead.
 
CBU started the second half on a 9-0 run that carried over from the first to force a Montevallo timeout with 16:49 on the clock and a 45-32 UM lead. Out of the timeout, Jaylen Curry ended the Bucs run with an and-one that pushed the lead back to 16 points. The Falcons went scoreless over the next three minutes before Fussell knocked down a three, but the Falcons' defense held strong and kept hold of the double-digit lead. With 12:05 to play, Curry finished through contact to give the Falcons a 54-39 lead. Just two minutes later, another old-fashioned three-point play from Curry gave the Falcons an 18-point advantage. A quartet of CBU triples in four minutes trimmed the Falcons lead down to single digits for the first time since the 9:41 mark of the first half. Over the next few minutes, CBU went on a 10-3 run to trim the Falcons' lead down to 66-63 with 2:12 to play with the help of a four-minute scoreless stretch for the Falcons. On the next CBU possession, the Bucs tied the game with 1:27 on the clock for the first tie since a 2-2 score at the 19:24 mark of the first half. With just seven seconds on the clock, Fussell finished through traffic and converted the free-throw to give Montevallo a 70-66 win over CBU and a 5-0 start in GSC play.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Montevallo 70 | Christian Brothers 66
Records: Montevallo 9-2 (5-0 GSC) | Christian Brothers 4-6 (0-4 GSC)
Location: Central State Bank Arena | Montevallo, Ala.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Falcons shot a blistering 52 percent from the floor while going slightly better from deep with a 52.6-percent shooting clip from long range.
• For the second game in a row, Montevallo never trailed in the game with just 41 seconds of action at a tied score.
• The Falcons lost the rebounding battle, 40-29, with CBU dominating the offensive glass with a total of 18 offensive rebounds.
• Jaylen Curry led the Falcons' scoring with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 2-of-6 from deep to go along with three rebounds and an assist.
• Brandon Fussell (16) and Derek Moore (16) rounded out Montevallo's double-digit scorers.
• Montevallo has not started the conference schedule 5-0 since the 2019-20 season.

 
UP NEXT: Montevallo hosts Union on Saturday, Dec. 21 for the final game in the 2024 calendar year.