HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss – Three players tallied double figures to lead the Talladega College men's basketball team to a 62-51 conference win over Rust College tonight.  With the win, Talladega extends its winning streak to 12 while improving to 14-1 on the season and staying undefeated in the GCAC with a 5-0 mark. The Bearcats dropped to 6-8 on the year and 3-5 in the GCAC.

Talladega took an early 4-2 lead to start the contest before a Rust three-pointer put the Bearcats in front, 5-4. The Rust lead did not last long as Corey Sands hit a three to make it 7-5 with just under 16 minutes to put Talladega back in front.  The Tornadoes used Sands three to start a 14-4 run to take an 18-9 lead with 12:13 left in the half.  Rust was able to cut the lead to four as it trailed 23-19 with less than 10 minutes to go, but Talladega didn't let the lead come that close again in the half as it went into halftime up 37-23 after using a 14-4 run.

Coming out of the break Sands drained his fourth three of the game to make it 40-23, but the Bearcats answered with the next six points straight.  The Tornadoes responded with four of its own points off a pair of free throws and a jumper to push its lead to, 42-29. Rust used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to single digits and it stayed a single-digit lead for Talladega for the next 5 minutes and 35 seconds until Lamont Sams hit a foul shot to push the lead to 10 points. The Bearcats again were able to get the lead back to single digits and cut it to four to trail 51-47 with 6:21 left.  The Tornadoes closed out the game on an 11-4 run to win 62-51.

The Talladega bench outscored Rust 22-6 while registering 15 points off turnovers to the Bearcats eight.

Both teams were in a deadlock on the glass as each grabbed 31 boards.

Talladega finished the game shooting 44.7 percent from the field while shooting 51.8 percent in the first half. The Tornadoes were 8-of-17 (47.1%) beyond the arc.

D'Andre Boyd and Lamont Sams each tallied 15 while Corey Sands finished 14 points.  Sands finished with a team-high four three-pointers.

Boyd finished the game going 5-of-7 from the field while grabbing four rebounds and was a perfect 5-of-5 from the line. Sams finished with a team-leading six made field goals (6-of-8).

JaVonni Bickham led Talladega on the glass with a game-high seven boards.

Talladega is back on the road tomorrow when it travels to LeMoyne-Owen College for a non-conference match. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.