Miles opened the 2024-25 men's basketball campaign with a 68-47 win over Talladega Tuesday night at Knox-Windham Gymnasium. The Golden Bears grabbed the lead early, had a double-digit lead midway through the opening half, then used an aerial display in the second half to torpedo the Tornadoes (2-2).

Miles drained 11 3-pointers, seven of them in the second half. Vernon Nash was the main culprit, scoring a career-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting. He was a heat check in the final half, draining five 3-balls to take a close game and turning it into a rout. Talladega had cut the Miles lead to four points before Nash and Alvin Miles (12 points, six assists, three steals) drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch the Golden Bears' advantage to 38-30.

The game fell apart for the Tornadoes shortly thereafter. Nash started a run of 10 consecutive points with a layup and ended it with another 3-pointer to give Miles a 48-32 lead with 12 minutes remaining. Nash kept firing later, raining consecutive deep balls to extend the lead to 58-36 - the 22-point lead being the largest of the contest - with 7:19 to go. Five minutes later, Nash found the range again once more to close out his impressive shooting display.

The Golden Bears shot 41 percent from 3-point range but held the Tornadoes to just a 2-of-11 showing from downtown and just 39 percent from the field for the game. Shaun Walker had 10 points and eight rebounds to lead Talladega. Elijah Horton posted his first career double-double (11 points, career-high 10 rebounds) and Corey Trotter had four points, seven rebounds and two blocks for Miles, which travels to play Columbus State on Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.