MONTEVALLO, Ala.—The Hawks came out on top in the hard-fought battle against the Falcons on Tuesday night at Trustmark Arena with a final score of 82-81.
With the win, Shorter will improve to 2-8 on the season while Montevallo will fall to 3-2 on the season.
Montevallo came out and was the first one to score with a three-pointer from Mason Shifflett but soon after the Hawks went on a scoring rally with back to back layups from
Jay Shropshire and
Charles Botchway. Along with back to back three pointers from
Ricky Knight Jr. and Ja'cori Wilson to take the lead 12-8. The Hawks kept it interesting with a back and forth game until about five minutes left in the first half. The Falcons shots were falling in the bucket while the Hawks struggled at the arch to hit the three's. Going into halftime Montevallo lead Shorter 42-35.
Coming out of the locker room, Shorter had a sense of urgency throughout the second half. The Hawks gained the lead with 13 minutes left in the second half with a jumper by
Ja'Cori Wilson to take the lead 49-47. With a fight back and forth and then Montevallo taking the lead at 11 minutes and holding onto it until just about two minutes left in the game.
Jay Shropshire dunked to take the lead 78-76. The Falcons took back the lead with a layup from James Mcneil, 79-78. Followed by a layup from Botchway, then a jump shot from Montevallo's Braxton Bertolette. With 17 seconds left Shropshire hit a two-point jumper to win the game 82-81.
Botchway lead the Hawks with a team high of 19 points, one steal and four rebounds. Shorter had five other players reach double digits. These included Ralph Barnett with 12 points along with
Ricky Knight Jr., Wilson, Shropshire, and Dunham all added in 11 points each. The leading scorer for the Falcons was McNeil with a game high of 20 points followed by Xavier Malcom and Mason Shifflett each scoring 19 points.
The Hawks return to action against ninth ranked Lee University at home in the Winthrop-King Centre with tipoff for Friday set for 6pm and tip off for Saturday is set for 2pm.