MONTEVALLO, Ala. – University of Montevallo's Brandon Fussell proved to be an almost one-man wrecking crew as the Falcons handed the Lee University men's basketball team their first defeat of the season 75-60 on Thursday evening inside Central State Bank Arena. The sophomore guard nailed five 3-pointers in seven attempts and finished the contest with 33 points.
The final score is a bit deceiving. After being down 34-20 at the halftime break, the Flames cut the Falcon lead to 56-52 with 4:32 remaining in the contest. However, after a quick timeout Montevallo regrouped and Fussell hit a triple and his teammates converted key free throws to put the home team back on top by a 60-52 margin.
Overall, Fussell made 11-of-15 shots from the field. Teammate Derek Moore finished with 11 points and Camden Andrews added 10. As a team Montevallo shot 50% from the field (24-of-48) and 8-of-20 from beyond the arc (40%). They marched to the charity stripe 25 times and converted 19, a key difference in the contest.
The Flames shot a decent 43% overall (24-of-56) but struggled from 3-point range, making 5-of-25 (20%). They were awarded 10 freebies and canned seven. The Falcons had 32 rebounds and Lee 28. The Flames committed 14 turnovers and the Falcons only 11.
Marlon Smith led the Lee scorers with 19 points. Giancarlo Valdez came on strong and tried to lead a late Lee rally, finishing with 17 points. Noah Boler-Kyle was Lee's top rebounder with six.
With the loss, the Flames fall to 4-1 on the year and will regroup as they return to GSC action on Saturday afternoon traveling south to face Auburn University at Montgomery at 5 p.m.
Coach Bubba Smith's Thoughts:
"Give credit to Montevallo, they did a good job in their game plan. It is hard to win if you play from behind in the GSC. We had another slow start tonight, and missed shots had an effect on our defensive effort in the first half. We also can't let a player get 36 points on us as we have to learn to make better adjustments quicker and we didn't get stops when we needed it tonight."
