MONTEVALLO, Ala. - The Georgia Southwestern men's basketball team could not slow down a hot-shooting Montevallo squad in the second half Wednesday evening and dropped a 69-59 decision in Trustmark Arena. The host Falcons shot a blistering 63 percent over the final 20 minutes after trailing GSW by two points, 30-28, at the half.

The Hurricanes fall back to .500 at 10-10 overall, 5-8 in Peach Belt Conference play. The loss keeps GSW two games behind North Georgia and Clayton State for the fourth, and final, seed out of the west division for the postseason PBC Tournament. The Hurricanes have six games remaining, including one against Clayton State on Saturday and a home-and-home series with North Georgia. Montevallo remains atop the west and improves to 16-7 overall and 12-1 in conference play.

Southwestern's largest lead of the evening came with 10:39 left in the first half when Josh Birchfield's layup made the score 16-11. The game was a back-and-forth affair throughout as there were five ties and 11 lead changes. The Hurricanes were as close as five, 61-56, with 3:30 to play.

The Falcons finished with a higher shooting percentage (56.9 percent) than GSW (40.7 percent), dished out seven more assists (19-12) and won the battle on boards (33-25). The Hurricanes accounted for three more steals (4-1) and forced two more turnovers (10-8).

Birchfield connected on 7 of 12 shot attempts, right in line with his accuracy from the floor all season that has him ranked third in the PBC in field goal percentage. Birchfield finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds to post his fourth double-double of the 2014-15 campaign. Damien Leonard hit 4 of 8 from beyond the arc on the way to his 14-point night. Darius Redding added 11 points.

Southwestern entered the game as the top 3-point shooting team in the PBC, but it was Montevallo who more efficient on Wednesday. The Falcons sank 6 of 11 from long range while GSW was held to 9 of 26.

Shykeem Jackson drained 6 of 8 from 3-point land and paced Montevallo with 24 points. Larry Slaughter added a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds while Troran Brown nabbed his double-double by scoring 10 and dishing out 13 assists.

Southwestern returns to the Storm Dome for Homecoming against Clayton State on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.