TALLADEGA - The Talladega College men's basketball team lost its first game of the season Wednesday, 82-72 to visiting Faulkner.
Down by 23 points in the second half, TC (0-1) managed to cut the Faulkner (3-0) lead to 66-65 with a furious 23-1 run. The Eagles, however, responded with a 14-5 run of its own to escape Tornado Alley with a win.
"That 23-point lead evaporated pretty quickly," said Faulkner head coach Jim Sanderson. "They created some turnovers and we probably panicked a little bit. I've coached a lot of games here and when the atmosphere gets rolling, Talladega gets rolling."
The Tornadoes got off to a slow start against the Eagles, falling behind 23-8 in the early stages of the first half. But TC went on a 14-2 run in roughly six minutes to climb back into the game.
A 3-pointer from Tarium Taylor with 10 minutes remaining in the half cut the Faulkner lead to 12 points, and another from Ivan Sostanic moments later brought the Tornadoes within nine at 23-14.
After TC trimmed the lead to two points at 27-25, Faulkner went on a 14-2 run to regain control.
Ten unanswered points brought the Eagle lead to 37-25. Howard Greer ended Faulkner's run with a basket, but at the half TC trailed 41-27.
"It looked like we came to lose," said Talladega head coach William Brown. "In the first half we didn't play aggressive at all on offense or defense. We got into such a big hole in the first half that it was difficult in the second half to cut the lead down."
The Eagles went on a big 9-2 run to open the second half, and increased their lead to 50-29.
Faulkner led by as many as 23 points before the Tornadoes woke up. What transpired was a furious 23-1 run led by Christopher Hyche that took just six minutes off of the clock.
The run began with a dunk from Hyche. On the in-bound pass, DeAndrae Ross grabbed a steal and was fouled on his jumper. Ross completed the 3-point play at the line, cutting the lead to 18 points.
Faulker appeared to lose its composure in the following minutes.
Another steal from Ross gave TC the ball back, and Taylor made two clutch free throws to cut the lead to 65-49.
Hyche took control of the game, scoring the next 12 points for TC to bring the Tornadoes within five.
Buckets from Christopher Tanzy and Ross made it 66-65 with about six minutes to play in the game.
"We couldn't stop the bleeding there for a while until we called a time out or two," Sanderson said.
Big plays from Faulkner's Jake Mitchell and Chris Palmore allowed the Eagles to reclaim control.
With time running out, the Eagles made huge free throws at the line to send them back to Montgomery with their third win of the season.
Hyche finished the game with 24 points, 16 of which came in the 23-1 run. Brown said while his offensive performance was impressive, his defense needs work.
"The guys he was guarding had a tremendous nights as well," Brown said. "When you score 24 points ,but give up the same amount, he's null and void. He has to do a better job defensively and on the board - the same goes for the rest of the guys. (Faulkner's) entire starting lineup was in double figures we didn't shut down anybody in the first or second half."
Faulkner was led by Palmore, who scored 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Adam Okechukwu put up 15 points, while Mitchell had 10 with seven assists and two steals.
Kerry Harvis scored 18 points for TC while Taylor added nine.
"We just need to keep working on our defensive principles and use this as a teaching tool," Brown said. "We know where we went wrong - we gave up too many easy baskets and second-chance opportunities. We have to have some guys step up. I don't think we prepared well tonight as a group."
TC will be on the road for the next two weeks, beginning with a exhibition game against Tuskegee on Thursday at 7 p.m
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