By Josh Pound | NAIA Media Relations

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Box Score) The No. 2 Talladega (Ala.) Tornadoes used a 10-0 second-half run in the first round of the 2015 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship to distance themselves from Rocky Mountain (Mont.) en route to a 74-63 win Thursday. The Tornadoes advance to take on Our Lady of the Lakes (Texas) at 2:15 p.m. CDT Friday in the Second Round.

Talladega (30-4) held Rocky Mountain (20-11) to just five 3-pointers in the win. The Battlin’ Bears entered the tournament averaging 9.3 3-pointers per game and were ranked fourth in NAIA Division I.

“We played more together down the stretch at both ends of the floor,” said Talladega head coach Matt Cross. “We got everybody involved a little bit more offensively and played better team defense.

“In the first round of the national championship, everybody has a little bit of jitters. It’s good to get the first win under your belt and get some experience playing in this setting.”

Talladega connected on 32.4 percent from the floor in the first half while limiting Rocky Mountain to just 26.3 percent. As a result, the Tornadoes were able to lead throughout the entire half taking a 33-23 lead in the half.

In the second half, after falling down by 12 points, Rocky Mountain gradually started to chip away at their deficit pulling within one point early in the second half before eventually taking a brief 48-46 lead with 9:13 remaining in the game.

At that point, Talladega responded with a 10-0 run that pushed their lead back to double figures and took the momentum away from Rocky Mountain.

“Talladega is a very good team but I thought we battled,” said Rocky Mountain head coach Bill Dreikosen. “Offensively we never could really find a rhythm but you have to give Talladega credit for that. We missed some shots and never could get back-to-back shots to go. We took the lead there for a little bit but they took the lead back in the last five minutes and did what good basketball teams do.”

Zach Hinton scored a game-high 18 points for Rocky Mountain in the loss while Shondel Stewart led Talladega with 17 points.

Talladega converted on 16 of 19 free throws in the second half to finish the game at 72.7 percent while defensively they held Rocky Mountain to just 26.7 percent from beyond the arc.

Game notes:
Talladega – Making back-to-back championship appearances and improves to 2-2 all-time in the event… Current win streak is 4 games (longest streak of year was 21)… Entered the game No. 3 in the NAIA in Field Goal Pct. (0.503) and No. 5 in Scoring Margin (+17.188) – tonight the Tornadoes were 35.9% from the field and were +11 in scoring margin… Coming into the game, Shondel Stewart averaged 21.90 points per game – with 17 points tonight, it marked just the ninth time this year (in 20 games) that Stewart scored under his average

Georgetown – Battlin’ Bears making their ninth NAIA Tournament appearance and their third straight. … Rocky Mountain is 5-7 all time in the tournament with all five wins coming en route to their 2009 NAIA Championship run. … Rocky Mountain entered the tournament ranked fourth in the NAIA in 3-pointers per game with a 9.3 average, they were limited to 5 of 29 – their second-lowest 3-point total this season. … Leading scorer Malachi Roberts, who entered tournament play with a 15.2 ppg average was held to just five points in the loss. … Third straight opening-round loss for Rocky Mountain since winning 2009 NAIA title.