MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The Falcons clinched the No. 2 seed in the 2026 Gulf South Conference Tournament after topping West Florida, 89-77, on Wednesday night.
 
Brandon Fussell scored five of Montevallo's first seven points of the night to give UM a 7-2 lead in the first two minutes. The two sides would trade buckets for the next five minutes with the game tied at 11-11 at the 14:33 mark before a Sam Duskin triple opened up a 16-12 Falcon lead with 12:24 on the clock. West Florida would pull back to two the game at 16-16 before Duskin added another triple to give Montevallo a three-point lead with 10:06 left in the half. West Florida took its largest lead of the first half at 29-24 with a three at the 6:40 mark to cap an 8-2 Argo run. Derek Moore tied the game with a finish at the rim after a Bryant James three pulled Montevallo back within a bucket. Curry scored four-straight points for the Falcons to give Montevallo a 35-33 lead before Brandon Fussell broke another tie with a three of his own with 1:35 on the clock. UWF used a trip to the line to cut UM's lead to one before Fussell beat the buzzer to close the half with Montevallo leading 40-37.
 
Out of the break, Montevallo went on a 14-4 run in the first five minutes behind eight points from Derek Moore to take a 53-41 lead at the 14:29 mark. Duskin and Fussell knocked down back-to-back threes to stretch Montevallo's lead to 18 points before Fussell finished at the rim to give Montevallo a 63-43 lead with 11:39 left. Just over a minute later, another Duskin triple gave Montevallo its largest lead of the night at 21 points. A 15-3 UWF run over the next four minutes trimmed Montevallo's lead down to single digits at 71-62 with 6:32 on the clock. Freshman Devon McKinnon ended the run with an old-fashioned three-point play to stretch the lead back to 12. UWF cut the lead down to 77-69 with 4:07 to play before a quick 5-0 Falcon run gave Montevallo an 82-69 lead with 3:06 to play.  The Falcons would kept the Argos at bay for the final three minutes to take an 89-77 win in Central State Bank Arena.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Score: Montevallo 89 | West Florida 77
Records: Montevallo 20-7 (16-5 GSC) | West Florida 21-8 (14-7 GSC)
Location: Central State Bank Arena | Montevallo, Ala.
 
GAME NOTES

• Montevallo shot 54.7 percent from the floor while post a 46.2-percent mark from deep while adding an 82.6-percent clip from the line.
• The Falcons won the rebounding battle with a 33-24 advantage on the glass while adding nine offensive rebounds to six from UWF.
• The two sides scored well in the paint with Montevallo posting 32 points inside while UWF scored 30 points in the paint.
• Brandon Fussell led Montevallo with 29 points on 9-for-16 shooting while going 5-of-11 from long range with five assists, three rebounds and two steals.
• Derek Moore added 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting while pulling down a team-high eight rebounds to go along with four assists.

 
UP NEXT: Montevallo closes the regular season on Friday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. against Valdosta State for Senior Day.