MONTEVALLO, Ala. | The University of Montevallo's hot shooting saw them rally from an early deficit to pick up an 84-71 Peach Belt Conference men's basketball victory over Young Harris College Wednesday (Jan. 18) evening at Trustmark Arena.

Montevallo improved to 12-4 overall and moved into first place in the PBC West Division with a 6-3 record, a half game better than Young Harris and the University of North Georgia at 5-3. The Mountain Lions dropped their third consecutive games as they fell to 11-6. After three consecutive road games in five days, the Mountain Lions are off until next Wednesday (Jan. 25) when they host Georgia College in a 7:30 p.m. PBC contest at the YHC Basketball Arena.

"it was a tough road trip going from the farthest east team in the league to the farthest west team in the league," said YHC head basketball coach Pete Herrmann. "We need to get back to work and prepare to play like we are capable of. Montevallo played well, hitting 60 percent of its shots. I thought we were much more like ourselves in the second half. Montevallo was able to take advantage of our turnovers in the first half."

Young Harris got off to a quick start, using a 9-2 run to jump out to its largest lead of the game at 17-8 on a C.J. Wilson layup with 12:10 remaining in the first half. Montevallo battled back to take a 27-25 lead on a Tazz Marbury three-pointer with 5:10 to go. Marbury made all four of his three-point attempts as the Falcons were 9-of-16 as a team (56.3 percent). Montevallo took a 42-32 lead into the locker room after closing out the first half on a 15-4 run.

The Mountain Lions got as close as eight points (53-45) on a Wilson layup with 15:30 remaining in the game, but Montevallo scored the next eight points to take a 61-45 lead on a Talan Whitaker layup two minutes later. The Falcons pushed their lead to 22 points (76-54), before Young Harris trimmed the deficit to 13 points in the final minutes.

Wilson led Young Harris with 14 points, nine assists and five steals while Demari Edwards added 13 points. Marques McKoy finished with 12 points while Bjorn Walker and Marcellus Roberts had eight apiece. Ben Waterhouse finished with seven points and led YHC with eight rebounds. 

Jamaar Taylor and Kevin Kelly led the Falcons with 20 points each, while Marbury finished with 15.