ATLANTA- Morehouse nearly erased a second half, double-digit deficit on Saturday against Talladega. But Damion Mitchell's 3-pointer was off the mark and the Tornadoes left Forbes Arena with a 68-65 win over the Maroon Tigers in the annual McAfee-Brewer Memorial Classic.

Talladega (9-1) used a 13-2 run midway through the second half to break open a tie game. The Tornadoes led 57-46 with 7:29 remaining and Morehouse (5-4) went more than five minutes without a made field goal before Omar Rowe (eight points) drained a 3-ball with just less than six minutes remaining. Still, the Maroon Tigers trailed by seven and needed to string together some buckets to get back into the contest. That's exactly what happened.

Morehouse scored nine straight points, kickstarted by the 3-pointer by Rowe, aided by two steals and buckets by Cedric Taylor III – the second one finishing with a slam dunk that had the crowd on its feet – and capped with a jumper by Nate Lacewell the trimmed the deficit to 57-57 with less than four minutes left.

The Maroon Tigers cut the lead to a single point on two other occasions down the stretch but did not make a bucket from the field after the Lacewell jumper. Morehouse went 0-for-6 from the field over the last 3:19, but went 9-of-11 from the charity stripe to stay close. Mitchell made all five of his free throws before misfiring on the potential game-tying 3-pointer with one second remaining.

The Maroon Tigers, who had won three straight coming into the contest, led 23-21 at halftime despite shooting less than 27 percent from the field and being outrebounded 20-12 by the NAIA Tornadoes. The second half advantage hit four points on two occasions, the last coming on a rebound and put back by Amahn Decker (six points, four rebounds) less than four minutes into the final period for a 32-28 lead.

But the lead was gone 90 seconds later. Talladega's Corey Sands used two 3-pointers to sandwich a 3-point play by D'Andre Boyd that closed a 9-0 run and gave the Tornadoes a five-point lead. Still, Morehouse got a bucket from Taylor to go back in front and two free throws from Keshawn Pegues (six points) had the score knotted at 44 with 10:29 remaining.

Talladega was led by Sands and Boyd, who both scored 17 points, while Ethelbert Anum added 13 points.

Taylor finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and two steals and Mitchell added 12 points and two assists for the Maroon Tigers, who host LeMoyne-Owen College at Forbes Arena on Dec. 16. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.