MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The University of South Carolina Aiken men's basketball team battled its way back into the game with a strong start to the second half, but they would be unable to hold off Montevallo in the latter minutes of the game in a 73-67 loss to the Falcons in Peach Belt Conference men's basketball action at BankTrust Arena on Thursday evening.

Montevallo opened the game on a 9-1 run, but USC Aiken's Jesse Seilern (Innsbruck, Austria/Kapfenberg) knocked down a three-pointer with 15:26 left in the first half to snap the Falcons' early game spurt.

Montevallo (14-7, 7-5 PBC) would extend its lead to as many as 16 in the first half, but USC Aiken (13-8, 7-7 PBC) would be able to get back to within as little as seven during the final minutes of the first stanza.

Montevallo would eventually enter the halftime break owning an eight-point 35-27 lead.

USC Aiken roared out of the halftime break by scoring eight consecutive points to tie the game at 35-35. All eight of the points in the 8-0 Pacer run were obtained by Byron Faison (Sumter, S.C./Crestwood), who knocked down back-to-back three-pointers before hitting a jumper from the left baseline at the shot clock buzzer with 17:15 left in the second half.

After a Montevallo lay-up, Seilern gave the Pacers their first lead of the game at 38-37 with just over 15 minutes to go in the final half of action.

The Pacers behind the shooting of Faison had pushed their lead to six at 50-44 with just under 11 minutes left in the contest.

A few minutes later, Montevallo had worked its way back into the lead at 56-55. Pacer guard Re'mon Nelson (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) made sure that the Falcon lead would not last as he knocked down a trey shortly thereafter to place the Pacers back ahead by two at 58-66 with 6:18 remaining.

In the back and forth second half, Montevallo then took the momentum and was back ahead by five a little while later at 65-60 with under three minutes to play in the game.

The momentum would not change back in the Pacer favor as the Falcons claimed the six-point win.

USC Aiken finished the contest shooting 49 percent (21 of 43) as a team. The Falcons connected upon 51 percent (25 for 49) of their field goal attempts in the contest.

Both teams were lethal from beyond the arc with Montevallo hitting 63 percent (5 of 8) of their treys and USC Aiken hitting 42 percent (8 of 19) of its three-point field goal attempts.

Faison led all scorers in the game with 24 points. He was 8 for 13 from the field in the contest.

He was one of two Pacers in double figures with Chase Holmes (Chesnee, S.C./Presbyterian) chipping in to the Pacer cause on Thursday with 10.

Four Falcons finished in double figures with Jervan Jackson leading the way with 17 points. Ryan Westbrooks added 13, while Antoine Davis had 12 and DeMarcus Catchings finished with 10 points.

The USC Aiken men will next welcome Georgia College to the Convocation Center for a 7:30 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 12.  The contest is the second game of a Peach Belt Conference men's and women's basketball doubleheader at the Convocation Center with the nationally 15th-ranked USC Aiken women scheduled to take on the Georgia College women prior to the men's game at 5:30 p.m.

The USC Aiken-Georgia College doubleheader will serve as Homecoming for USC Aiken.

Both of the games will be able to be followed live on USC Aiken's official athletic website at www.PacerSports.com.