TALLADEGA, AL. – The Talladega College men's basketball team opened up the 2023-24 campaign with an 85-62 win over Birmingham-Southern College here on homecoming this afternoon. This is the second straight season the Tornadoes defeated the Panthers on homecoming and the third straight win in the last three meetings.

The Panthers jumped out to an early 6-1 lead on Talladega on back-to-back three-pointers to open the game, but the Tornadoes used a 12-0 run to grab a 13-6 lead to claim its first lead of the season. Birmingham-Southern attempted to chip away as it came within three going into the first media timeout of the game.

Coming out of the timeout Talladega didn't take its foot off the gas as it pushed it to 25-18, but the Panthers were able to make it a two-point game and trail 29-27 with 8:54 left in the first. The Tornadoes closed out the half on a 20-10 run going into halftime up, 49-37.

Talladega (1-0) in the second half never really had to worry because the Panthers were never able to get the difference to single digits once the Tornadoes took a 53-43 lead with just under 13 minutes left in the game. The Tornadoes were able to cruise to an easy 85-62 win

The Tornadoes as a team outshot the Panthers 58.7 percent to 44.9 percent from the floor while making 31-of-42 (74%) shots in the paint. Talladega forced 25 turnovers with 17 of them being stolen.

D'Andre Boyd led all-scorers for both teams and was 1-of-3 players for Talladega to record double-figures in points.  He drained 21 points for Talladega as he only missed two shots all game going 9-of-11. He tallied four boards, four steals, and three assists in the process too.

Lamont Sams finished with 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the floor while grabbing a team-high six rebounds. Teammate Wilfred Campbell dropped 11 points with a team-high three 3-pointers.

Talladega is back home on Tuesday night. when it hosts LeMoyne-Owen College at 7 p.m.