PEMBROKE – Visiting Montevallo used a career-best 29 points from Jonas Brown, a healthy rebounding advantage and a key 9-0 run with less than four minutes remaining to deal UNCP its first Peach Belt Conference loss of the season with a 74-69 victory over the Braves on Saturday afternoon in the English E. Jones Center.

The loss snapped a seven-game regular season league winning streak for UNCP (10-5, 4-1), while also putting out a seven-game home winning streak as well. PBC West co-leader Montevallo (12-2, 3-0) stayed unbeaten (3-0) in its series with the Braves, while also keeping its perfect road record intact as well.

Shahmel Brackett raced past the 1,000-point plateau for his career with game-bests in both points (20) and rebounds (5), while backcourt mate K.J. Cooper came off the bench to book 13 points in the losing cause as well. D.J. Rivera, the league's leading scorer heading into the contest, was a non-factor in the first half, but scored a dozen in the second half en route to 17 points. Brown nailed 5-of-6 attempts from the perimeter en route to his career offensive output, but also chipped in six rebounds and four steals as well.

The Falcons shot nearly 48 percent from the field in the contest, including a 57-percent effort in the second half, and grabbed the better end of a 38-26 rebounding disparity.

"(Montevallo) is a really good team, and they were better than us today, and we got kicked on the backboards pretty good," said UNCP head coach Ben Miller. "They did a better job of rebounding tonight and that is a huge aspect of this game. Give them credit. They made big shots when they needed to down the stretch."

The lead changed six times in the second half, but the Falcons took the lead for good on a lay-in by Marvin Fitzgerald with 3:05 left to play. The bucket would spark the visitors on a nine-point scoring spurt that stretched their advantage out to 68-60 with 57 seconds remaining. The Braves cut their deficit back to five on a 3-pointer by Griffin Pittman with 10 seconds left, but Fitzgerald sank a pair of free throws to keep the Black & Gold at arm's length.

A back-and-forth affair for much of the game's first six minutes, UNCP used a five-point run to grab its largest lead of the game, 16-9, on a 3-pointer by Cooper at the 11:26 mark. Montevallo would tie the score back up two minutes later and the teams jockeyed for position for the remainder of the stanza. The Falcons would grab their only lead of the half, however, on Fayetteville native Ryan May's lay-up with 7:24 left before intermission that gave the visitors a short-lived 20-19 advantage.

UNCP will be back in action again on Thursday when the Braves head to Dahlonega, Ga., to lock horns with PBC West rival North Georgia (7-6, 2-1) inside Memorial Hall. Tip off has been slated for 7:30 p.m.

To watch the full game click Part 1 or Part 2.