SAVANNAH, Ga.- Rashad Hassad scored five points and grabbed five rebounds in overtime to lift Savannah State to a 46-44 victory over North Carolina Central in Tiger Arena.
Hassan made a layup and hit a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a 40-36 lead with 3:27 left.
The teams traded three pointers and NCCU's Joshua Worthy made two free throws to cut SSU's lead to 43-41 with 1:44 remaining.
Hassan added a free throw and
Patrick Hardy made a layup with four seconds left to expand SSU's advantage to 46-41. The Eagles' Michael Glasker buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The crowd of 1,244 saw SSU improve to 7-12 while the Eagles fell to 4-17.
Savannah State played good defense in the opening period as they held NCCU to 13 points on 5-for-30 shooting. The Tigers had their own offensive issues, scoring five points and going 1-for-16 from the field.
NCCU was given an administrative technical foul before the game and
Tracy Rankins hit one of two shots for the Tigers for a 1-0 lead.
SSU did not score their first field goal of the evening until Hassan made a jumper at the 13:56 mark to give the Tigers a 5-4 lead. The Eagles finished the half with nine unanswered points for a 13-5 halftime lead.
North Carolina Central expanded their lead to 18-8 early in the second half and with 12:04 on the clock, the Eagles led 24-13.
SSU answered with a 3-pointer from Hardy to start a 18-7 run which would tie the game at 31 with 2:57 on the clock.
Glasker, who ended the game with 17 points, hit a 3-pointer for NNCU but Hardy nailed another 3-pointer for SSU to tie the game at 34 with 2:23 remaining.
Trailing by two, Hassan sent the game into overtime with a layup with eight seconds left , tied at 36.
Hassan finished the game with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers. Hardy along with Preston Blackmon scored nine points and Blackmon had seven assists. Louis Arnold grabbed 10 rebounds to go with his eight points.
Savannah State shot 50 percent from the floor in the second period. NCCU won the rebounding battle 41 to 37.
