SAVANNAH, Ga.- The Savannah State men's basketball team closed out the 2011 portion of their schedule with a 45-41 victory over a pesky Mount St. Mary's team in Tiger Arena.

The Mount led by as many as five points in the first half and led 26-23 with 1:18 remaining until SSU's Arnold Louis scored on a pair of layups to give the Tigers a 27-26 halftime edge.

Mount St. Mary's shot 52.2 percent from the field in the first half but made 11 turnovers.

The Mount started the second half with a jumper from Danny Thompson and two free throws from Josh Catellanos to take a 30-29 lead with 17:38 on the clock.

SSU answered with six straight points to go ahead 35-30 with 11:29 remaining.

The Mount cut their deficit to 35-32 after a layup by Raven Barber but a 3-pointer by Preston Blackmon gave the Tigers a 38-32 cushion with 8:13 left.

SSU's lead shrunk to two points with just under six minutes left but two free throws by Louis and a jumper by Blackmon increased the Tigers lead to 44-38 with 3:03 on the clock.

A 3-pointer by Castellanos pulled the Mount within three with 1:50 left but a free throw by Deric Rudolph with three seconds remaining sealed SSU's win.

The Tigers improved to 5-8 while Mount St. Mary's fell to 1-10.

Despite out-scoring the visitors, SSU only shot 28.6 percent from the field in the second period. The Tigers shot 33.3 percent for the game while Mount St. Mary's shot 42.9 percent.

Rashad Hassan led SSU with 14 points. Blackmon added 9 points while Louis came off the bench to chip in 8 points, 8 rebounds, 7 steals and 4 blocks.

Thompson led the Mount with 8 points.

The Mount had 24 turnovers and were beat on the boards 32 to 27.