DAHLONEGA — Wednesday night's match up of the top two teams in the Peach Belt Conference Western Division lived up to the billing as the University of North Georgia men's basketball team edged out Montevallo, 83-82, in exciting fashion in front of a spirited crowd at Memorial Hall. Redshirt junior Shaquan Cantrell scored his 1,000th career point in the first half of the contest.
UNG moves to 15-11 on the season and now takes control of the Western Division race at 11-6 in PBC play.
The Nighthawks were on fire out of the gate with Denzell Hosch, Cantrell, and Tyler Dominy draining back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to put UNG up 9-1 less than two minutes into the game. A Kevin Kelly three-point basket at the 5:11 mark in the first half game Montevallo their largest lead of the day. The Falcons took a three-point advantage into the halftime break.
Ephriam Tshimanga set the tone for North Georgia in the second half intercepting the initial inbounds pass of the half from Montevallo and driving in for an easy layup to pull the lead back to just one point. The game would go back-and-forth from there but neither team would lead by more than two possessions for the rest of the night.
Hosch led the Nighthawk effort with 26 points on the night. Dominy (15), Cantrell (14), and Tshimanga (12), all landed in double figures as well.
Cantrell's seven rebounds were the most of any Nighthawk.
Cantrell, a Gainesville High graduate, eclipsed the 1,000-point mark at the 6:19 mark in the first half with a three-point basket.
North Georgia now holds a half-game advantage over Montevallo in the PBC Western Division race, however six of the seven teams in the division are all within 2.5 games of each other. Simply put, UNG would clinch the No. 1-seed from the Western Division with a win over Columbus State on Saturday.
The Nighthawks will host Columbus State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at Memorial Hall.
