TALLADEGA, Ala. – A revamped MBU Men's Basketball opened its new season on Friday with an impressive 84-78 road win over (RV) Talladega as part of the 'Fresh Start Talladega College Classic'. The Spartans took the lead from the Tornadoes, a team that's reached the NAIA National Tournament each of the last two seasons, with four minutes left in the first half and never relinquished it in route to a six-point victory.
 
In a tightly contested first half, the pendulum swung the Spartans' way in the final six minutes. The MBU defense clamped down to hold the Tornadoes to three points over a five minute stretch. In the meantime, junior transfer Tyrell Andrews went to work for the Spartans with six of his team-high 16 first half points. Andrews and junior PG Jadis White each scored in double figures in the first half as MBU went into the locker room with a 42-36 lead.
 
Out of halftime, the lead grew to as many as nine points early on. Back to back threes- one from 7-foot center Ryan Pollard and the other the more the traditional route from sharpshooter Brendon Hardy- made it a 48-39 advantage. Talladega would chip away, however, narrowing the deficit all the way down to one after an 11-2 run midway through the half.
 
The Spartans would settle in though and never surrendered the lead. It didn't hurt that the Tornadoes committed 34 personal fouls resulting in three players fouled out and an unconscionable 45 trips to the free throw line for MBU. The Spartans did just enough with those chances, knocking down 35 attempts from the stripe, including an 18-23 clip in second half crunch time.
 
Four Spartans would finish in double figures led by Andrews with 20 points (6-9 FG). The Wichita, Kan native was 7-8 from the FT line. Last season's leading rebounder John Yaeger was up to the task again, pulling down seven boards to go along with 17 points.
 
Brendon Hardy and Jadis White were the Spartans' two most frequent visitors to the charity stripe. White went 9-11 while Hardy was 7-9. Both players finished with 15 total points. White led the way with five assists.
 
The Spartans will have a quick turnaround with another difficult test on Saturday afternoon. They'll face (RV) Faulkner (Ala.), another National Tournament team from last season, with tipoff scheduled for 2 pm.


*(RV) denotes team is receiving votes—just outside the Top 25-- in the Preseason NAIA Coaches' Poll