FLORENCE, SC – Francis Marion University guard Evrik Gary scored a game-high 23 points, but 21st-ranked University of Montevallo used a strong second-half shooting performance to pull away for an 86-64 Peach Belt Conference win, Saturday afternoon (Jan. 18) in men's basketball action.

FMU (6-8, 3-5) will continue a three-game home stand on Monday night when the Patriots host Clayton State University at 7:30 p.m.  Francis Marion remains tied for fourth place in the PBC's East Division standings.

Gary drained 8-of-15 field goal attempts, including 2-of-5 shots from beyond the three-point arc, and was a perfect 5-for-5 at the foul line.  His outing pushed his career scoring total to 1,511, sixth-best on the FMU all-time scoring list and to within 23 points of former Patriot guard Jerry Lattimore who is fifth at 1,534 points.

FMU junior swingman Dustin Jones scored 14 points and sophomore center Mykel Harris added 11 points coming off the bench.  Junior guard Trevonte Dixon, a Florence native, tallied his first career double-double with 10 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.

Guard Shykeem Jackson led the Falcons (13-2, 6-2) with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from behind the three-point line.  Center Orlando Brazier scored 15 points, while reserve forward Larry Slaughter added 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The opening 10 minutes were tightly contested with neither team leading by more than three points.  A 12-2 run by Montevallo that included seven points by guard Troran Brown gave the Falcons a 24-15 advantage.  FMU pulled to within 30-26, but Jackson beat the first half horn with a three-pointer from the right side to give Montevallo a 33-26 halftime lead.

The Falcons scored the opening four points of the second half to lead by 11, but Francis Marion answered with an 11-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 39-37 following a drive and dunk by Dixon.  After a Falcons' miss, FMU had a chance to tie or take the lead, but a turnover led to a dunk by Brown, the first of eight straight Falcon points.

The margin was 10 points (63-53) with 5:55 remaining when the Falcons started to pull away.

Francis Marion connected on 39.3 percent of its field goal attempts, including 7-of-24 from long range, and was 13-of-15 at the free throw stripe.  Montevallo shot 46.2 percent, including 54.5 percent in the second stanza.  The Falcons were 11-of-26 from three-point land.

1-18-14 3:46 pm at Florence, SC (Smith University Center)
#21 UNIV. OF MONTEVALLO 86, FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY 64
UNIV. OF MONTEVALLO (#21 13-2 ,6-2)
Jackson, Shykeem 7-11 0-0 21; Brazier, Orlando 6-10 3-3 15; Slaughter, Larry
5-6 4-8 14; May, Ryan 3-8 4-4 13; Brown, Troran 4-17 0-0 9; Collier,
Ed'Lexus 3-6 0-1 6; Cooper, Da-Juan 1-2 1-2 3; Mills, Silas 1-3 1-2 3;
Stowers, Darius 0-2 2-4 2. Totals 30-65 15-24 86.
FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY (6-8 , 3-5 PBC)
Evrik Gary 8-15 5-5 23; Dustin Jones 4-11 5-6 14; Mykel Harris 4-8 3-4 11;
Trevonte Dixon 4-9 0-0 10; Tyler Deihl 1-3 0-0 3; Luka Zivkovic 1-4 0-0 3;
Alex Bryant 0-0 0-0 0; Clark Major 0-3 0-0 0; Sam Caron 0-1 0-0 0; Robert
Carpenter 0-2 0-0 0; Lepreece Lynch 0-0 0-0 0; David Brown 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
22-56 13-15 64.
Halftime: Montevallo 33  Francis Marion 26
3-point goals--Univ. of Montevallo 11-26 (Jackson, Shykeem 7-11; May, Ryan
3-7; Brown, Troran 1-7; Collier, Ed'Lexus 0-1), Francis Marion University
7-24 (Evrik Gary 2-5; Trevonte Dixon 2-6; Tyler Deihl 1-3; Luka Zivkovic
1-4; Dustin Jones 1-5; Mykel Harris 0-1). Fouled out--Univ. of
Montevallo-None, Francis Marion University-None. Rebounds--Univ. of
Montevallo 38 (Slaughter, Larry 11), Francis Marion University 34 (Trevonte
Dixon 11). Assists--Univ. of Montevallo 26 (Brown, Troran 9), Francis Marion
University 8 (Evrik Gary 3). Total fouls--Univ. of Montevallo 16, Francis
Marion University 17. Technical fouls--None. A-802