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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The University of Montevallo Falcons took a successful three-day road trip in the state of Tennessee as the men’s basketball team walked away with a pair of wins.

Montevallo eked out a 63-60 win over the Union Bulldogs on Thursday, Feb. 6 at Fred DeLay Gymnasium before breezing past the Christian Brothers Buccaneers 81-70 on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Canale Arena.

In the first game of the road trip in Jackson, Tenn., the Falcons battled back from an early 6-2 deficit with an 8-0 run anchored by back-to-back 3-pointers from Jaylen Curry and Brandon Fussell. Union fought back and drew within one but Fussell continued to dominate and keep UM in front.

The Bulldogs then tied the game, but Curry erupted out of the under-eight media timeout with his fifth-straight point to help the Falcons emerge with a 21-16 lead with 7:53 remaining in the first half.

Fussell extended the lead to eight shortly after at the free throw line, but Union made it a two-possession game with just 2:19 left until halftime. From there, Camden Andrews and Derek Moore led the response to put Montevallo up 36-27 as it headed to the locker room.

The Falcons kept their foot on the gas to open the second half and took their largest lead of the game at 38-27. However, that’s when the Bulldogs responded with a 12-0 run and stole a 39-38 lead just four minutes into the second half.

The lead continued to trade hands over the next few minutes as Moore and Andrews continued to hit shots.

The one player who wasn’t hitting shots was Fussell, who scored 16 in the first half but was held scoreless until 6:50 remained in the ballgame. Shortly after that put-back, Tyson Sexton scored his first points of the night to extend the lead to 56-51 with 4:25 left in the game.

Curry extended the lead to five with four key free throws, but Union made it a two-point game with 33 seconds left. Montevallo withstood the pressure and used four free throws, including the final two from Fussell to cap his big day, to seal the three-point win.

Fussell led his team with 20 points and five rebounds while Curry secured 17 points along with a pair of blocks and steals. Andrews finished with 15 points and four rebounds to join them in double figures, and Moore had nine points and eight rebounds to get on the cusp of a double-double.

In addition, Sexton earned four steals and five rebounds to go with his two points and Aiden Gardiner had five rebounds despite not scoring.

Two days later, Montevallo got out to a much stronger start on offense with an 11-2 run in the first four minutes of the game. The Falcons had five different scorers during the early run to take command of the game.

Andrews kept the momentum going with a corner 3-poiinter ahead of a Fussell basket to make it a 12-point lead.

Christian Brothers responded with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 19-14 with 12:10 remaining in the first half. However, Fussell put a stop to it with his 10th point in the opening 10 minutes of the game.

That was part of an 11-0 run from Montevallo to extend the lead to 32-16, one of two such runs in the remaining minutes as Gardiner capped another 11-0 with an and-1. Curry then hit his first 3-pointer of the game to give the Falcons a 23-point lead at 45-22.

The Bucs scored five straight points to end the half and cut the halftime deficit to 45-27 and continued roaring back in the second half. They opened the half on an 11-2 run to make it a single-digit game a 47-38.

Montevallo would stretch the lead back out to 53-40 with 15:35 remaining thanks to back-to-back Curry scores, but Christian Brothers kept taking the fight to the Falcons. The hosts would cut the score to 55-52 with 10:35 remaining after trailing by as much as 23 in the first half.

Needing a massive response, Curry provided just that for Montevallo. He made two 3-pointers in the next couple minutes to make the lead 61-54. Fussell added a 3-pointer shortly after before Andrews put the Falcons up 70-60 with under six minutes left.

The Bucs made one last stand in the game by making it a four-point game, but Gardiner’s 3-for-4 run at the free throw line helped Montevallo stave off the threat. Moore and Curry then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the nail in the coffin and get out of Memphis with an 11-point win.

Curry led the Falcons with 22 points off 9-for-17 shooting, five rebounds and four assists. In all, five Montevallo players got into double figures. Fussell scored 15 points, including a 3-for-6 stretch from deep, and added four assists and three steals.

Moore had 12 points and five rebounds while Gardiner finished with 12 points as well to go with his four boards. Andrews scored 11 points and had five assists to round out the double-digit scorers.

Sexton had another strong day on the boards as well with seven points and six rebounds.

With the wins, Montevallo moved into a tie for third place in the Gulf South Conference with Trevecca Nazarene at 11-6.

The Falcons will return home Saturday, Feb. 15 for their homecoming game against Auburn-Montgomery at 6 p.m. It will be the first of three-straight home games at Central State Bank Arena to finish out the regular season home slate.