FROM STAFF REPORTS

MONTEVALLO —  The University of Montevallo men’s basketball team earned its fifth consecutive berth to the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament and its ninth bid in the past 11 years March 9 after earning an at-large bid as the No. 3 seed in the Southeast Region.

Montevallo (24-5) will face Georgia Southwestern, the No. 6 seed, in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region tournament quarterfinals Saturday, March 15 at the USC Aiken Convocation Center in Aiken, S.C.

Tip-off times for the quarterfinal contests will be announced later this week.

The NCAA Division II Southeast Region tournament semifinals will be held Sunday, March 16, followed by the region tournament championship game Tuesday, March 18. The Southeast Region tournament champion will advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, which will be held March 26-29 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

The Falcons, who claimed the Peach Belt Conference West Division championship, split a pair of regular season meetings with the Hurricanes (20-10) during the regular season. Montevallo defeated Georgia Southwestern 61-59 at home Jan. 15 at Trustmark Arena. The Falcons fell to the Hurricanes 83-74 on the road Feb. 12 in Americus, Ga.

USC Aiken, the Peach Belt Conference East Division and tournament champions, defeated Montevallo 61-59 in the Peach Belt Conference tournament title game March 9.

The Falcons, who have advanced to the NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Tournament nine times in program history, own an 18-8 all-time record in the tournament.

Montevallo owns three region tournament championships in the NCAA Division II men’s basketball tournament. The Falcons captured back-to-back South Region championships during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 seasons and took home the Southeast Region title during the 2011-2012 season.

All nine of the Falcons’ appearances in the NCAA Division II men’s basketball tournament have come in the past decade under head coach Danny Young, who captured his 300^th career win March 7 after guiding Montevallo to a 85-80 win over Francis Marion University in the Peach Belt Conference tournament quarterfinals. Young picked up his 250^th win at Montevallo in the Falcons’ 96-87 double-overtime win over GRU Augusta in the semifinals March 8.