FAIRFIELD, Ala. – The Talladega College men's basketball team drops its first game this year on the road as Miles College rallies to win 53-51 this afternoon. The Tornadoes (2-1) are back on the road on Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they face Tougaloo College.
Corey Sands got Talladega on the board to start the game as he hit a three-pointer for the first basket of the game for either squad. Miles answered right back with a jumper to make it a one-point game, but the Tornadoes used a 6-2 run to push its lead to 9-4 with 14:41 left in the half. But again, the Golden Bears answered when they hit a three to come within two of the lead.
JaVonni Bickham scored the next four straight points to give the Tornadoes some breathing room and put them up, 13-7. Talladega was able to build off its lead as it went into halftime up, 30-23.
Coming out of halftime, Bickham started the scoring off by hitting a pair of free throws to make it a 32-23 lead for Talladega. But the Golden Bears responded with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws to trail by four, but the Tornadoes answered with an 8-0 run to make it 40-28 with 14:14 left in the game. With both teams traded points, Talladega was able to hold a 13-point lead with 10:34 remaining, Miles slowly chipped away to trail 48-41 with just under seven minutes left.
The Golden Bears hit a three-pointer and a jumper to make it a 48-46 Tornado lead with 4:10 left in the game. With just under three minutes left, Alivn Miles hit a pair of three throws for the Golden Bears to tie the game at 48 but
D'Andre Boyd put Talladega back in front after draining a pair of foul shots to go up, 50-48. With 1:58 left in the contest,
Ethelbert Anum hit the first foul shot but came up short on the second to push the Talladega lead to, 51-48.
Coming out of a 30-second timeout with 1:40 left in the game, the Golden Bears hit a three to tie the game at 51. After back-to-back missed shots and two offensive rebounds, Talladega's
Wilfred Campbell's three was blocked by Miles and then the Golden Bears hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to take the lead and were able to hold on for the 53-51 comeback win.
Talladega shot over 50 percent (52.4%) in the first half while shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc. For the game, the Tornadoes shot 37 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from three-point range.
The Tornadoes edged Miles out on the glass 31-30 while outscoring the Golden Beas in the paint 18 to 10.
Bickham led Talladega in both points with 18 and rebounds with nine. He was 4-of-9 from the field and 6-of-7 from the line in the process. Teammate
Lamont Sams tallied 11 points while draining three 3-pointers. His three 3-pointers were a team-high.
