DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- Savannah State held Bethune-Cookman without a field goal the final 2:16 but the Wildcats made 11 of 12 free throws down the stretch and held on to defeat SSU 66-62 at Moore Gymnasium before a crowd of 925.
 
Trailing 42-41 with 9:54 left, the Wildcats strung together a 13-3 run where they held SSU to one field goal and grabbed a 54-45 lead with 3:18 on the clock.
 
A layup and free throws by Rashad Hassan as well as free throws from Kierre Richards and a 3-pointer by Preston Blackmon enabled the Tigers to close their gap to 57-54 with 1:33 left.
 
While B-CU converted their free throws, the Tigers were never able to get any closer than four points, even though Blackmon hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 11 seconds.
 
Savannah State (8-10, 4-2) was led by Hassan's 18 points. Blackmon added 14 and Jyles Smith chipped in 12 points and 4 blocks. Arnold Louis had 8 points and 8 rebounds.
 
Cookman scored seven unanswered points to get a 21-13 lead with 9:23 left but the Tigers ended the period with a 16-5 spurt to take a 29-26 edge into halftime which ended with back to back dunks by Hassan and Smith.
 
The Wildcats (7-12, 4-1) opened the second half with back to back 3-pointers from Kevin Dukes to take a 32-29 lead.
 
SSU shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the opening half and 44.2 percent for the game.
 
Bethune-Cookman, who was led by Adrien Coleman's 15 points, out-rebounded the Tigers 32 to 29 and shot 41.2 percent from the field while making 21 of 26 free throw attempts.