NEW ORLEANS -- With a 19-6 season mark and a 7-3 record in GCAC play, the Talladega Tornadoes men's basketball team was looking to both get the season sweep on Xavier and improve upon their already-strong conference standing when they traveled to take on the Xavier Gold Rush on Monday night.
The men's squad had been out of game action since last Monday when they defeated #6 nationally ranked Tougaloo. The Tornadoes hoped to shake off the dust early on in this contest and grab another conference win.
Fueled by not one, not two, but three double-digit scorers, Talladega fought hard to the victory over Xavier by a final score of 66-65.
The first half progressed slowly for Talladega as the team had some struggles in the opening 20 minutes. The Tornadoes would eventually go into half time trailing Xavier 34-31. TC was fueled by the efforts of several players: Dondre Alexander paced the team with nine points. The rebound game was owned by Alexander and Charles Shaw, who each racked up three in the first half.
Already trailing by three points coming out of the halftime break, the Tornadoes put their foot on the gas and fought even harder to pass by the Gold Rush in the second half. The TC lead at one point grew to four late in regulation, as their 66-65 win solidified their 20th win of the year, and 8th in eleven total conference games.
"Tonight is a great example of how far this team has come this year," said Head Coach Chris Wright. "We didn't play well for most of the game, but we stayed together and gutted this one out. The tougher team usually wins and I thought that was true tonight. It was great for us to win an ugly, grind it out game like this."
Those three double-digit scorers mentioned earlier? Da'Jon Streeter had 15 points and seven rebounds, Jarin Hilson had 15 points and Alexander added 14 points and seven rebounds.
TC will face GCAC competition again when they play host to the Southern University at New Orleans Knights Saturday. Tip-off in Tornado Alley is set for 5:00 p.m
Demond Walker, Assistant Athletic Director
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