Benedict Downs SSU In Exhibition Basketball

SAVANNAH, Ga.- Antrjun Albright scored a game-high 28 points to lead Division II Benedict past Savannah State 80-73 in Tiger Arena, in a battle of the Tigers.

The crowd of 1,800 saw Albright hit 9 of 10 from the field and 8 of 9 3-point attempts.

SSU and Benedict are old rivals from the SIAC and have not played since the 1999-00 season.

Benedict, who is ranked sixth in the Sporting News Division II preseason poll, led 10-8 but then put together a 9-1 spurt to go ahead 19-9 with 11:13 left in the first half.

Savannah State trimmed their deficit to six with 7:36 left after a pair of free throws from Joshua Montgomery but Benedict answered with a 11-2 run that gave them a 34-19 lead with 2:27 on the clock.

SSU closed the opening half with a 3-pointer from Deric Rudolph and a pair of layups from Jyles Smith and trailed 36-26 at the half.

Savannah State cut Benedict's lead to 38-34 early in the second half but a 13-2 push by the visitors gave BC a 51-36 lead with 13:49 remaining.

A layup by Richard Conner pulled SSU within 54-44 with 10 minutes left but a 8-2 mini-run gave Benedict their biggest lead of the night at 62-46 with 9:01 on the clock.

SSU trailed by 13 with 2:46 left but then went on a 10-0 run to only trail 76-73 with 38 seconds left.

Benedict scored the final four points of the game as Rickie Jackson and Marcus Goode each hit two free throws.

Smith led Savannah State with 14 points,10 rebounds and four blocks while Arnold Louis, Preston Blackmon and Rudolph each chipped in 12 points.

Goode, a 6-10 center, added 19 points and eight rebounds for Benedict. Xavier Collier scored 17 points and had nine assists while Jackson chipped in 10 points.

SSU out-rebounded Benedict 37-30 but missed 17 free throw attempts (16 of 33).

Benedict shot 51.9 percent from the floor, 55.6 from 3-point range and made 14 of 17 free throw attempts.

Print Friendly Version