TALLADEGA, Ala. – Talladega College men's basketball team fell 62-58 at home tonight to Fisk University in GCAC action to start the month of February. The Tornadoes are now 17-4 and 7-2 in the conference while Fisk is 9-11 and 6-5 on the season.
Talladega opened things up with a 7-2 lead, but the Bulldogs clawed their way back to cut the lead to 13-11 with 7:48 left in the half. But a Talladega three-pointer foul sent Fisk to the line to shoot three trailing 15-13. The Bulldogs hit all three foul shots to take a 16-15 with just under five and a half left to play in the first. The Tornadoes used a 9-6 run to reclaim the lead and go up 24-22, but Fisk closed out the half hitting back-to-back three-pointers to take a 28-24 lead going into halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, Talladega drained a three and hit the backend of a free throw to tie things at 28, while Sam Lamont's layup put the Tornadoes back in front early in the second half. Each team went back and forth for just over the next six minutes with Talladega holding a slim 43-41 lead. The Tornadoes were able to build off of that but they couldn't put Fisk away while the Bulldogs hung around trailing 54-53 with 4:15 left. Back-to-back layups for Fisk put them back in front 57-54 and they were able to fend off a late Talladega rally to hold on to the 62-58 victory.
Turnovers were the Achilles heel tonight for Talladega as it committed 17 turnovers that Fisk converted into 20 points with 12 of the 20 points coming in the first half.
The Tornadoes' bench outscored Fish 12-0 for the game while both teams were equal in the paint scoring 28 points each.
JaVonni Bickham led Talladega in scoring with 12 points while going perfect 4-of-4 from the field and foul line. He grabbed six boards in the process.
Lamont finished with 10 points and a team-high four dimes for the Tornadoes while tallying five rebounds.
Corey Sands' led the team in three-pointers with two as he finished with eight points on the night for Talladega. Teammate
D'Andre Boyd paced the team in rebounding with nine boards.
The Tornadoes are back in action Monday, Feb 5 at 7 p.m. when they host Tuskegee.
