FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Montevallo men's basketball's comeback effort falls short against third-seeded Florida Southern to close a historic 2024-25 season for the Falcons.
 
Florida Southern struck first but back-to-back buckets from Camden Andrews and Tyson Sexton gave Montevallo a 4-3 lead, one that the Falcons wouldn't relinquish for the next 16 minutes. With 17:33 on the clock, junior forward Jaylen Curry nailed Montevallo's first triple of the day before fellow junior Derek Moore capped a 7-0 Montevallo run with a touch finish at the rim. The Mocs brought the lead down to 10-7 at the 15:27 mark but Brandon Fussell's first bucket of the game ended a near three-minute scoreless drought for Montevallo. On the next UM possession, Fussell knocked down a corner three to answer an FSC triple and keep the Falcons on top, 15-10. Midway through the half, Moore scored four points in a 7-2 run that extended Montevallo's lead to 24-15. FSC answered with an 8-2 run of its own to trim the advantage down to 3 with just 8:02 left. Senior Aidan Gardiner ended the run before a Fussell steal led to a Moore finish in transition that gave Montevallo a 31-25 lead with 6:10 remaining. FSC tied the game at 31-31 before taking its first lead since 2-0 at the 3:29 mark. The Mocs extended the advantage to as many as eight at 42-34 with 1:44 to play but the Falcons outscored FSC 7-2 in the final two minutes with five points from Jaylen Curry to head into the half with Montevallo trailing 44-41.
 
 Curry opened the second half scoring with a finish at the rim before Moore regained Falcon control with a 45-44 lead. Fussell answered a Moc bucket to keep the Falcons out in from but a 9-3 FSC run over the next four minutes left UM in a 55-50 hole with 15:15 to play. Over the next three minutes and change, Montevallo went just 1-for-8 from the floor as Florida Southern pushed its lead to 65-56 with 11:59 to go. Moore ended the Falcons' slump with an emphatic flush on the next UM possession before Curry kept the Falcons within striking distance at the 10:02 mark with UM's first three of the second half. With 8:53 left, FSC took a 10-point lead at 74-64 before Montevallo cut it down to six with a quick 4-0 run. Florida Southern saw its largest lead of the day with 2:41 to play at 83-72 with the Falcons all but out of it. Curry came up big with a steal at the 2:00 mark before nailing the three in transition to cut the lead to eight before Fussell knocked down another transition triple to cut it down to 83-78. The Mocs missed a pair of big free throws late before a 5-0 run from Fussell in just six seconds of game time gave Montevallo a chance to tie the game with the final shot. After a made free throw from the Mocs, Montevallo had the final shot of the game, trailing 86-83. The Falcons found Fussell on the inbound but the sophomore's half-court heave missed the mark as the final buzzer sounded on the Falcons' 2024-25 season.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Montevallo 83 | Florida Southern 83
Records: Montevallo 20-11 (15-7 GSC) | Florida Southern 26-8 (14-6 SSC)
Location: Rick Case Arena | Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Falcons trailed by 11 with 2:41 remaining but outscored the Mocs 8-0 down the stretch to have the final shot of the game with a chance to send it to overtime.
• Montevallo's record in the NCAA Div. II Tournament slips to 22-12 after Montevallo's 12^th appearance in the big dance.
• The Falcons finished the season with 20 wins, the most since 2014-15 when Montevallo tallied 26 wins en route to a Sweet 16 appearance.
• Montevallo struggled from long range with a 7-for-26 mark but shot 44.4-percent from the floor for the game.
• UM scored a whopping 50 points in the paint to just 36 from the Mocs while the Falcons tallied 17 second chance points to 10 from FSC.
• Derek Moore led Montevallo with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, five assists and a steal.
• Brandon Fussell eclipsed 20 points for the 12^th time this season with 21 points on 9-for-18 shooting with four assists and three boards.
• Jaylen Curry tallied 18 points on 5-of-17 shooting with a total of seven boards and a team-high three steals.