MONTEVALLO, Ala. – Montevallo men's basketball dropped its first home game of the season, 71-61, against No. 14 West Alabama on Saturday evening.
 
The two sides traded buckets early before a West Alabama three left Montevallo trailing 9-5 at the 16:37 mark. Devon McKinnon responded with a three of his own to pull Montevallo back within one but an 11-2 Tiger run over the next four minutes left Montevallo in a 20-10 hole with 12:17 to go in the half. Jaylen Curry ended the run with a three on the next Montevallo possession for his first point of the game. Montevallo used a 10-0 run that was capped by a Tyson Sexton triple to regain control at 23-22 with 7:04 on the clock. West Alabama would push its lead back to seven points, but Montevallo outscored the Tigers 7-2 in the final 2:23 of the first half to head into the locker room trailing 32-30.
 
West Alabama led by as many as five points in the early going of the second half but a 3-for-3 trip to the stripe from Brandon Fussell made the score 41-39 with 14:34 to go. Back-to-back threes from the Tigers gave UWA a 53-45 lead at the 7:47 mark before three free throws from Moore ended a 7-2 UWA run. West Alabama would extend its advantage to nine points with another triple to take a 59-50 lead with 5:31 to play. With 3:02 to go, Fussell scored Montevallo's first field goal in over two minutes to bring the Falcons within five before a UWA three pushed the lead back to 63-55 with 2:33 to go. With just 39 seconds to play, Tyson Sexton knocked down a tough shot inside to cut the lead down to four but UWA would score six unanswered from the line down the stretch to take a 71-61 win over Montevallo.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Montevallo 71 | No. 14 UWA 71
Records: Montevallo 10-5 (6-3 GSC) | No. 14 UWA 15-1 (10-0 GSC)
Location: Central State Bank Arena | Montevallo, Ala.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Falcons shot 40.2 percent from the floor but struggled from deep with a 5-for-18 mark while going 0-for-9 in the second half.
• Montevallo won the rebounding battle by a slim 34-33 margin with UWA taking 10 offensive boards to nine from Montevallo.
• Montevallo scored a total of 28 points in the paint to just 16 from the Tigers but UWA scored a total of 15 points off Montevallo turnovers.
• Brandon Fussell led Montevallo with 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting and 9-for-10 from the stripe.
• Derek Moore went for a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Devon McKinnon scored 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting.

 
UP NEXT: Montevallo heads out on the road for a meeting with Valdosta State on Thursday, Jan. 15.