Box Score
TOUGALOO, Miss.- The Belhaven men's basketball team suffered an 80-70 setback at the hands of Talladega College Friday night on day one of the Tougaloo College Classic. The Blazers were outscored 52-35 in the second half as the Tornadoes rallied for the victory.

Belhaven (5-8) turned in a solid first half in all phases of the game, especially on the defensive end of the floor. The Blazers kept Talladega (2-3) off rhythm and constructed a 35-28 lead at the break. Luke Rogers sparked the Belhaven attack in the first half with eight points off the bench. Rogers drilled a pair of clutch triples and another two point field goal on a tip back as time expired in the first half. Jordan Butts also contributed eight first half points to aid the offense.

Belhaven kept Talladega off balance at the beginning of the second half and eventually built a 12 point lead. The Tornadoes then started to turn the tide and clawed their way back into the game. Talladega grabbed the lead midway through the second half before Butts hit a couple of free throws to send Belhaven in front again 59-58. Unfortunately, it would be the last advantaged the Blazers would enjoy the rest of the night.

Talladega's fast break offense began to click and they rattled off some quick points over the next few minutes to take control of the contest. Belhaven hurt themselves with turnovers and left some opportunities to score at the free throw line go by the boards. The Blazers were just 12 of 24 from the charity stripe in the second half. Belhaven also had a hard time slowing down Talladega's Delonte Boyd who scored 10 second half points, mainly in the paint. A few of Boyd's points came off of offensive rebounds and as a team the Tornadoes notched 15 second chance points.

Belhaven was led by Butts who ended the night with a game high 24 points while also pacing the team in rebounds with seven. Rogers tossed in 12 points followed by Deon Bedford with nine points and five rebounds. Curt Hall came up with eight points and a team best three steals. The Blazers committed 22 turnovers in the contest leading to 19 Talladega points.

Belhaven connected on 40.4 percent of their field goals (21-52), were 4 of 19 from three point range (21.1 percent), and converted 63.2 percent of their free throws (24-38). The Blazers were outrebounded 41-23.

Talladega had four players reach double figures with one recording a double double. Boyd fired in 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the way for the Tornadoes. Roman Vaughn also contributed 17 points followed by Phillip Wood and Daniel West with 12 points each.

The Tornadoes completed Friday's game shooting 42.6 percent from the field (26-51) and in the second half found the bottom of the net 50 percent of the time (15-30). Talladega went 5 of 21 from three point land (23.8 percent), but made some clutch free throws especially in the second half to ice the game away. The final free throw numbers for the Tornadoes were 23 of 28 from the charity stripe (82.1 percent).

The Blazers will try and regroup on Saturday night when they travel to Tougaloo College for an 8:00 PM tip-off at Kroger Gymnasium. Fans can hear all the live play-by-play action on the Blazers Sports Network by clicking here.