MONTEVALLO, Ala. — It's a different story but same ending.
Georgia Southwestern led Montevallo 28-25 at the half only to see the game slip away in the final 2:20.
The Falcons went on an 8-0 run over a 1:21 span to knock off the Hurricanes, 62-58 on Saturday.
Ric Roderick and Evan Mobley carried GSW (5-16, 1-10 PBC) by scoring 21 and 18 points, respectively, and combining for 10 3-pointers in the game. Mobley also had seven assists.
"We came out with a tremendous amount of effort, and we played hard defense," said coach Mike Leeder. "We made some shots early to get a lead, and then we hit a three- to four-minute stretch in the second half where they jumped ahead eight or nine points. We battled back, but we couldn't make the big play at the end of the game."
Unlike the first time the two teams met, the Hurricanes managed to stay close. Montevallo pulled away for a 69-49 win on Jan. 9.
The Hurricanes led by as many as seven in the first half.
"There was no flow, and it was a really ugly first half," said Leeder. "We face-guarded their top two scorers, and it was a slow-moving first half. That's the kind of way we needed to play."
With the game tied at 36, that's when the Falcons (18-3, 8-3) made their move, scoring the next 10 points, all by Freddy Little. He scored 17 of his game-high 23 in the second half.
GSW regained the lead at the 5:26 mark on a Mobley 3-pointer. Roderick's fifth 3-pointer of the game gave the Hurricanes a 55-53 lead when they hit a wall. Roderick's final three came with 13 seconds left to pull GSW to within 61-58. Roderick was 6 of 8 — all 3-pointers — for the game.
Chris Rawls scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but was 3 of 7 from the floor.
"Teams are really just taking Chris out of the game," said Leeder. "They swarm so much around the basket, and it's hard to get a post entry. We've done better the last few games being patient, and tonight we were able to knock down some threes."
Helping out Little was Gerald January, who added 12 points.
Montevallo had a 29-10 edge in points in the paint and 24-16 in points off turnovers.
"I can't ask for any better effort," said Leeder. "They were incredibly enthusiastic for a team that's 1-10 in the league. I can't fault anything defensively today. We just didn't rebound down the stretch."
GSW is back in action Thursday at home against Armstrong Atlantic.
Women
Montevallo 70, GSW 53
The Lady Falcons made 16 more free throws than GSW, and that was the difference.
Montevallo was 29 of 35 from the line as it, along with GSW and Columbus State are now in a three-way tie for fourth place in the West.
"(Officials) called it real close, and we made a lot of poor fouls," said coach Kelly Britsky. "It was called a lot different than Clayton State. Tonight, they didn't let us do anything.
"I was disappointed in the whole effort. I didn't think we came off the bus ready to play. There's no doubt we wanted it, but we didn't do the things we needed to do to win. Montevallo was fired up and hitting on all cylinders; we were putzing along on one or two cylinders. Everything went their way."
Bristky said four of the team's started ended up sitting a lot of minutes in the first half.
GSW (9-12, 4-7) never led in the game. It trailed by four late in the first half when Montevallo (11-10, 4-7) scored the last four points to go into the locker room up 31-23.
The Lady Hurricanes pulled to within 48-44 with 8:33 remaining, but the Lady Falcons responded with a 11-2 run over the next four minutes.
Kristen Seigenthaler led all scorers with 20, and Alex Sanabria and Alicia Lewis had 14 and 12. Sanabria was 10-for-10 at the free-throw line, and Lewis was 8 of 10.
Brittany Reynolds and Brandi Burris each scored 11 for GSW, and Nadirah Gardner chipped in 10. Whitley Wiltz had a game-high 11 rebounds.
"This hurt us bad," said Britsky. "North Georgia upset Columbus, and now it's a 3-way tie. Instead of us stepping ahead and giving ourselves an advantage, we put ourselves back in the grunt of the mix. We have to really step it up and win some games at home."
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