DELAND, Fla.- Tracy Rankins led five Savannah State players in double figures with 24 points as the Tigers defeated Stetson 82-68 in the Edmunds Center before a crowd of 1,079.

All five starters for SSU reached double figures.

Rashad Hassan had 18 points, Preston Blackmon added 15, Patrick Hardy scored 11 and Arnold Louis tossed in 10. Louis and Marcus Chawa had eight rebounds apiece and Blackmon dished out six assists.

Stetson scored the first points of the game but it was all Savannah State after that.

SSU raced out to a 21-9 lead with 9:45 left in the first half.

The Tigers led by 14 before Stetson rallied to make the score 27-21 with 3:15 remaining.

SSU finished the half with a 10-2 run and went into the locker room with a 37-23 lead.

The Tigers shot 46.4 percent from the floor in the first period while Stetson (6-20) shot 40.7 percent.

Savannah State led 45-28 after four minutes of action in the second half before the Hatters stormed back to only trail 51-44 with 11:06 on the clock.

SSU led by as many as 11 but Stetson made it a six point contest (65-59) with 3:13 left.

The Tigers reeled off six straight points to open up a 71-59 advantage with 2:07 remaining.

Leading by 10, a dunk by Chawa started a 7-0 run that expanded SSU's lead to 80-63 with 44 seconds on the clock.

Ridge Graham led Stetson with 30 points.

SSU (10-14) shot 53.6 percent from the floor in the second half and 50 percent overall. The Hatters shot 50 percent from the field in the second period and 45.9 percent overall.