COLUMBUS, Ga. – Montevallo erased a 15-point deficit midway through the first period with a 29-11 run that spanned both halves as the Falcons advanced through to the semifinal round of the Peach Belt Conference Tournament with a 74-62 victory over UNCP on Friday afternoon at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center in Columbus, Ga.

The setback put the caps on a 17-12 season for UNCP who clinched consecutive winning seasons for the first time in 20 years with a win over Francis Marion more than two weeks ago. Montevallo (22-7) advances through to Saturday's semifinal round where they will take on the winner of Friday's quarterfinal contest between Georgia College and Augusta State.

Freshman Griffin Pittman scored a team-high 14 points for UNCP, who also got 13 points from all-conference performer Shahmel Brackett and 10 more from K.J. Cooper. D.J. Rivera scored a game-high 18 points for Montevallo, while Drico Hightower added 17 points and Ryan May chipped in 14 of his own. The Falcons also got 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds from PBC Defensive Player of the Year Antoine Davis.

UNCP fell to 6-16 all-time in PBC Tournament play, including a 5-11 clip in first round contests. It was the 20th time this season that the Braves won the rebounding battle (30-28) – an impressive feat considering Montevallo toted the nation's third-best rebounding margin team into the contest. Montevallo shot better than 63 percent from the field in the second half, including a 57.1 percent accuracy from beyond the arc.

"Montevallo was a little bit better today. Give them credit," said UNCP head coach Ben Miller. "They are a great team and a great program. We battled really well on the backboards, but they had some flurries offensively where we didn't get stops when we needed them. I think our effort was really good though.

"I want to congratulate our four seniors for what they have accomplished over a two-year period. They won more games the past two years than any other team has since we have been in the Division II ranks, they set a record for PBC wins this year, and they went to the national tournament for the first time in school history last year. They have set all kinds of new standards for this program. It hurts right now, but I hope they can look back and really feel proud of what they have accomplished and the foundation that they have set for these young guys moving forward."

The Falcons finished whiting out what was left of the 15-point first half deficit by scoring nine of the first 11 points in the second half that, inevitably, gave the Falcons a 38-35 lead on May's 3-pointer just less than four minutes into the second period. Montevallo - with the help of three more 3-pointers by May - would stretch that lead out to as much as 13 points, 54-41, five minutes later.

The Braves got to within six points twice in the last three minutes, but Montevallo used a pair of free throws by Rivera following a flagrant foul with 50 seconds left that pad its advantage back out to double digits.

"That was pretty much the same hard-fought game it was last time (in Pembroke)," said Montevallo head coach Danny Young. "It started just about the same way. I don't think there were two big leads like there were today, but it was very similar wire to wire. They out-rebounded us which is something that we always work on. They are a really good team and we knew that coming. They compete and they play hard. Last time, the big discrepancy was rebounds. They out-rebounded us this time and that is a credit to them."

Montevallo scored the first seven points of the contest, but Brackett's layup at the 16:49 mark sparked the Braves on a 30-8 run over the next 11 minutes that was capped on a 3-pointer by Brackett at the 5:15 mark that gave UNCP a 30-15 advantage. A Davis free throw with 4:49 left snapped a scoreless drought of nearly five minutes for Montevallo – a span that saw the Falcons register an 0-for-5 clip from the field and three turnovers - and marked the front end of a 13-3 run by the Falcons that closed the first stanza. UNCP would eventually take a 33-29 edge into the intermission.