SAVANNAH, Ga,- Savannah State defeated crosstown foe Armstrong Atlantic State 70-64 in exhibition basketball before a crowd of 4,100 at Tiger Arena.
 
Red-shirt junior Rashad Hassan led the way for the Tigers with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
 
AASU scored the first seven points of the contest behind the shooting of Aric Miller.
 
Down 11-6, the Tigers put together a 14-2 run that gave them a 20-13 lead with 7:45 left on the clock.
 
A pair of free throws by Miller cut AASU's deficit to five but a 10-5 spurt by the Tigers increased SSU's advantage to 30-20 with 5:44 remaining, their biggest of the first half.
 
AASU would get within six with 1:34 remaining but a layup and a free throw by Arnold Louis gave the Tigers a 37-28 edge with 44 seconds left before Miller closed the half with a pair of free throws to cut into SSU's lead.
 
Savannah State led 37-30 at intermission.
 
The Tigers led by as many as 12 early in the second half before stretching their lead to 58-45 at the ten minute mark.
 
Two free throws by Miller would close the Pirates to within 58-50 but Savannah State would answer with six straight points as Louis would hit a free throw followed by a 3-pointer from Deric Rudolph and a layup by Hassan to grab their biggest lead of the night at 64-50 with 7:28 on the clock.
 
Armstrong Atlantic State out-scored SSU 14-6 the final seven minutes, limiting the Tigers to just two field goals.
 
Louis added 12 points and a game-high 19 rebounds for SSU while Rudolph and Jyles Smith chipped in eight points each. Smith grabbed nine rebounds.
 
The Pirates were led by Miller who had a game-high 19 points while Mychal Horn scored 14 and Chris Vanlandingham added 12.
 
Miller, who also led AASU with seven rebounds, is the son of former Savannah State linebacker Ernest Miller who led the Tigers in tackles in 1980 and 1981.
 
SSU out-rebouned the Pirates 57 to 30.
 
The Tigers shot 34.8 percent from the floor while AASU made 42.6 percent from the field.