CARROLLTON, Ga. – The University of West Georgia Men's Basketball team suffered their first loss of the season on Friday after a 72-69 loss to Montevallo.

It was a tale of two halves for UWG (9-1, 5-1 GSC) as the Wolves scored a season-low 23 points in the first half compared to 46 in the second which ultimately propelled Montevallo (2-8, 2-5) to a three-point win.

"Give Montevallo all of the credit," said head coach Dave Moore. "They played their tails off.  All of the credit goes to them. They mixed in some of their pressures with some zone which kept us off balance a little. I thought we were a little lethargic in the first half which was my fear coming into the game after a road win on Sunday."

West Georgia couldn't get their offense going in the first half as the Wolves began the game 2-11 from the field and turned the ball over three times, leading to an 18-4 lead for Montevallo, seven minutes in. Coach Moore turned to his bench and got a major spark from Tamaury Releford as the center recorded back-to-back steals which led to two back-to-back fast break layups, cutting West Georgia's deficit to seven. From there on out, Zawdie Jackson converted a three-point play and got to the free throw line a handful of times but that's all the offense UWG could muster up in the period as they went into the break with a season-low 23 points and trailing by 12.

West Georgia shot 27.6 percent from the field and 0-12 from three in the first half while Montevallo shot 45.2 percent from the floor and 28.6 percent from three.

Following a rough first half, the Wolves desperately needed an offensive lift and got one from Cole Fisher. Fisher began the period by hitting back-to-back threes which carried an 8-0 West Georgia run that quickly cut their deficit to four. Moments later, a Releford dunk made it a three-point game before the Falcons got their lead back up to seven after scoring five unanswered. Down seven with 12:48 left to play, Fisher buried his fourth and fifth three of the game before Amari Davis tied the game at 47 with a layup. After the two teams traded points, Jackson gave UWG their first lead of the night with a three, but the Wolves could never extend their lead past two points as the game went back-and-forth down the wire. West Georgia found themselves down 69-66 with 27 second to play until Jackson tied the game with his second three of the game. Tied with 13 second to play, Montevallo's Justin Graham hit the game-winning three to end UWG's perfect season.

The Wolves' 9-0 start goes down as the fourth best start in school history.

Fisher finished with a career-high 19 points on a career-high six made threes while Jackson also scored 19 points and dished out four assists.

"Montevallo is a team that's going to beat some people in the Gulf South," coach Moore continued. "They beat us tonight and hopefully we can learn from it and bounce back."

West Georgia will now have two weeks off before they travel to Huntsville, Alabama for a massive GSC contest against Alabama Huntsville on December 30.