TOUGALOO, Miss. – Four players in double-digit scoring lift the Talladega College men's basketball team to a 76-72 win over Tougaloo College this evening. The Tornadoes moved to 3-1 on the season while the Bulldogs dropped to 1-2 on the year.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the opening half, but a three-pointer from
Jevon Tatum put Talladega on the board. Tougaloo responded with a pair of three-pointers and a free throw to push its lead to 14-3 with 12:09 remaining in the half. Tatum once again drained a three coming out of a full timeout to make it, 14-6. His three sparked a 6-4 run to make it a six-point Bulldogs and pull the Tornadoes within 18-12 with just over nine minutes remaining.
Tougaloo used a 14-4 run to push its lead to 32-16 with just under six minutes, following a Bulldog foul,
Jordan Crumbley hit a pair of free throws for Talladega to make it, 32-18. The Tornadoes went into halftime trailing 39-35 after stringing together a 17-7 run.
Ethelbert Anum hit a jumper 22 seconds into the start of the second half for Talladega to make it a two-point game and trail 39-37, but Tougaloo answered with a jumper 15 seconds after to go up, 41-37. But both
D'Andre Boyd and
Corey Sands hit back-to-back shots to tie the game at 41 and
JaVonni Bickham drained a three to give Talladega its first lead with 17:07 left in the game. The Tornadoes were able to hold on to its lead, but the Bulldogs were able to hang around until both teams found themselves tied at 61 with 5:44 left.
Tatum's jumper at 5:15 put Talladega back in front, 63-61. The Tornadoes used a trio of free throws and a jumper to push its lead to, 66-63. Tougaloo would go on to tie things up on a three, but Tatum answered again for Talladega when he drained another three to take the lead right back. The Bulldogs then hit back-to-back free throws and a jumper to retake the lead 70-69 with 2:44 left in the contest. Talladega rallied late on a 7-2 run with just over two minutes remaining to go on to win, 76-72.
Both teams were evenly matched as Talladega shot 59.1 percent from the field while Tougaloo went 57.1 percent.
Tatum led Talladega in points with 19 while going 6-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from long range. Boyd finished with 15 points and three assists while grabbing a team-high seven boards.
Both Sands and Bickham tallied 12 points each while combined shooting 7-of-14 from the field and 3-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Talladega is back in action this Friday at 1 p.m. when it faces Shaw University in the HBCU Classic in Atlanta, Georgia.
