TALLADEGA, Ala. – The Talladega College men's basketball team kicked off the 2024 part of its season with a 62-52 conference win over Dillard University this afternoon at home. The Tornadoes improved to 12-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference while Dillard falls to 7-6 and 3-3 in the GCAC.
Talladega jumped out to a 15-4 lead in the opening half, but Dillard cut the lead to five as it went on a 13-7 run to make it a 22-17 Tornado lead with 5:51 remaining. The Tornadoes were able to keep an arm's length as it used three 3-pointers and a layup to push its lead to 33-25 going into halftime.
Talladega's JaVonn Bickham opened up the second half with back-to-back layups to push the lead to 12 points. Dillard was able to match that with its own set up layups to cut the lead back to single digits, but Talladega answered with a pair of threes from
Jevon Tatum to make it a 43-29 game. With 13:39 left in the game and trailing 45-31, Dillard put together a 9-0 run to trail, 45-40. The Tornadoes pushed the lead to seven off a pair of free throws from Bickham, but Dillard answered with its own set of foul shots to cut it back to five.
Ethelbert Anum's foul shot added some comfort but Dillard cut the to its smallest margin off a layup to make it 48-44 with just under six and half minutes left. Talladega put together a 7-0 run to make it 55-44 and that allowed the Tornadoes to go on to win 62-52.
Talladega's bench tallied 21 of the team's 62 points with 13 of the 21 points coming in the first half. Both teams finished with 31 boards.
Three players finished in double-digits with Tatum pacing all three with 14 points. He finished with team-highs in field goals made (3) and three-pointers made (4).
Cory Sands tallied 13 points for Talladega while grabbing five rebounds. Teammate Bickham finished with 10 points while also finishing with five boards of his own.
Anum and
Lamont Sams led all Tornadoes with six rebounds each. Anum added six points in the process.
Talladega is back home on Tuesday, Jan 9 at 7 p.m. when it hosts Miles College.
