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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOMEWOOD – Samford University’s Pete Hanna Center turned into a sea of purple on Saturday, March 8 as the University of Montevallo Falcons took the stands by storm, just as their team took the court by storm.

Just a week removed from defeating the nationally-ranked Valdosta State Blazers on the road, Montevallo took its punches well throughout the match and took the fight to one of the best teams in Division II.

However, the Falcons’ first Gulf South Conference Championship run since rejoining the conference in 2017 was not meant to be as a last-second shot sunk their title hopes and gave the Blazers an 81-79 win.

Despite the loss, Montevallo’s dream season will go on as it received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Championship tournament, and it will face Florida Southern as the No. 6 seed in the South Regional on Saturday, March 15 at 1:30 p.m. central at Nova Southeastern University.

Valdosta State burst out of the gate with a couple of baskets to take a lead that they would hold through the early minutes of the game. The Falcons still threatened to take the lead, including off a Brandon Fussell four-point play that slashed the deficit from 7-2 to 7-6.

However, Blazers had the early edge from deep and went up 14-8 with 15:36 left in the half.

Both teams went ice cold immediately after the under-16 timeout and didn’t score for over three minutes. Montevallo broke the drought at the line before Valdosta State took the lead to eight with another 3-pointer.

That would soon change thanks to a 10-0 run from the Falcons capped off by a Camden Andrews layup to lead 19-17 with 9:55 remaining until halftime.

The lead traded hands multiple times over the next two minutes before Fussell hit a big 3-pointer for a 27-24 lead with 7:09 left, and the Falcons remained in front and in control until the 4:04 mark.

That was when the Blazers capped an 8-1 run with a LaDarrius Chigano dunk to take a 34-33 lead with 4:04 remaining.

The lead proved to be short-lived as Derek Moore hit a jumper to give Montevallo the lead through the break, and Fussell grew the lead to 45-39 with just seconds left in the half.

Montevallo stormed out of the locker room and grew its lead to 10, but Valdosta State responded emphatically with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 52-52.

The two teams traded the lead in a tense stretch before a Gurner layup and Andrews 3-pointer put the Falcons up 61-57 ahead of the under-12 break.

Montevallo found itself on the defense of its lead through the rest of the game, and the Falcons stood tall for most of it.

The Blazers quickly cut the deficit to two coming out of the under-12 timeout, but over the next four minutes, Montevallo grew its lead back out to seven thanks to some strong play down low by Fussell, Gurner and Jay Gillespie.

In response, Valdosta State went on a 9-2 run coming out of the under-8 timeout to tie the game at 71-71. Fussell took over to make sure the Blazers wouldn’t grab the lead as he hit a pair of free throws followed by a big 3-pointer.

That kicked off a 7-0 run that Moore capped with a layup to force a timeout with 3:43 left and the Falcons up 78-71 with all of the momentum from the crowd on their side.

However, that layup proved to be the last field goal Montevallo would score all game.

Valdosta State stormed out of the timeout and ended the game on a 10-1 run.

During that stretch, Moore fouled out of the game and Curry and Aiden Gardiner each had four fouls, complicating the comeback effort.

After Fussell briefly tied the game back up at 79-79 on the free throw line, the Falcons had a chance to take the lead on the inbounds play, but they were called for a five-second violation.

The Blazers then ran down the clock and pulled up for a midrange jumper, and they got the shot to fall with two seconds left to silence the Montevallo faithful.

The Falcons couldn’t convert on a buzzer-beating 3-point attempt at the buzzer, and their GSC title hopes ended with it.

Fussell led Montevallo with 28 points, six rebounds and four steals. Moore finished with a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Curry earned 16 points, six rebounds and three blocks and Andrews joined them in double figures with 11 points.