Men’s Basketball
Montevallo Runs Past Columbus State Travis DeShazior 3-pointer pushed to First PBC Tournament Title! (3/4/12) COLUMBUS, Ga. – Montevallo stormed back from an early deficit Sunday afternoon to capture the 2012 Peach Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Championship with a 70-57 victory over host Columbus State in Frank G. Lumpkin Center. With the victory, the Falcons improved to 24-7 and earned the PBC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars (18-11) will likely earn an at-large bid to the Big Dance. The official announcement of the full tournament field will be made at 10:30 p.m., Sunday night from the association’s headquarters in Indianapolis, Ind.
PBC All-Tournament Team
Re’Mon Nelson, USC Aiken the advantage to Devon Wright-Nelson, Augusta State 29-15. Fitzgerald’s Darius McKnight, Columbus State offensive rebound Steve Peterson, Columbus State and layup after a D.J. Rivera, Montevallo Davis miss made for a 36-19 FalTournament MVP cons’ lead – their Antoine Davis, Monteveallo largest of the half -- at the 2:15 mark. The Cougars got baskets from Johnathan Murphy and Jarmarquis Steverson to close the gap to 36-23 at the half.
Rivera’s trey just 39 seconds into the second half put the Falcons up 13 and a Hightower free throw made The tournament title was the first for Montevallo, which was making its second championship game ap- it a 53-39 UM lead with 8:58 to play. After UM missed pearance in its three seasons as members of the PBC. two free throws, Hightower came up with the loose ball and his putback gave the Falcons a 57-42. A Fitzgerald three-point play with 4:01 left gave MonteFalcons’ senior guard D.J. Rivera, the league’s scorvallo it’s largest of the game at 62-44. ing leader in the regular-season, tallied a team-high 22 points, including three 3-pointers, along with six Rivera canned six free throws in the final 2:14 and the rebounds. Backcourt mate Antoine Davis booked 15 Cougars never got within 10 the rest of the way. points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. CSU senior guard Steve Peterson booked a game-high 24 points, six boards and three steals. Darius Mcknight and Paul Darkwa managed 10 points each and combined for 17 rebounds. Peterson helped the Cougars roar out to a blazing start, draining a pair of 3-pointers around a Darkwa jumper in the first three minutes as CSU built an 8-2 lead.
The Falcons shot 51.0 percent for the game and hit 6-of-12 3-pointers and won the rebounding edge, 3735. CSU was held to 35.8 percent from the field (19-of53), including just 3-of-16 from long range. Box Score
The top seed in the PBC’s West Division, the Falcons answered with six straight points to knot the game at 8-all on a Marvin Fitzgerald putback and Davis’ reverse layup gave UM its first lead at the 14:21 mark and sparked a 9-0 spurt. A DeMarcus Catchings’ layup at the 6:40 mark put Montevallo up by 11 at 26-15 and a
2012 PBC Men’s Basketball Champions Montevallo Falcons 85