SAVANNAH, Ga.- Savannah State improved to 7-1 at Tiger Arena with a 75-45 rout of Stetson. before a crowd of 1,510.

Stetson scored the first points of the game but the Tigers answered with 13 straight points for a 13-2 lead with 15:03 left in the opening half.

The Hatters sliced their deficit to 15-10 with 10:05 remaining but SSU ended the first half with a 20-3 run to take a 35-13 lead into intermission.

SSU shot 43.3 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent from 3-point range in the first half while Stetson shot 21.7 percent.

After Cedric Smith made a layup for the Tigers to open the second half, Preston Blackmon hit a 3-pointer followed by two more from Deric Rudolph to give the Tigers a 48-20 lead with 16:06 on the clock.

Savannah State increased their lead to 53-23 after a Rudolph 3-pointer with 13:35 left and led 65-25 after Blackmon nailed a 3-pointer at the 10:13 mark.

The Tigers, who out-rebounded Stetson 50 to 34, had their largest lead of the game with 9:24 remaining after a 3-pointer by Rudolph gave the home team a 68-27 edge.

Stetson (7-13) chipped away and used a 12-3 spurt to trim their deficit to 71-45 with 1:33 on the clock before SSU ended the game with a pair of free throws by Richard Conner and  a layup by Arnold Louis.

The non-conference win improved the Tigers to 10-10 overall.

Rudolph led the way for SSU with 20 points as he drained six 3-pointers. Blackmon, who hit five 3-pointers added 15 points and four assists while Hassan chipped in 12 points and  nine rebounds. Louis came off the bench to contribute 14 rebounds and nine points for the Tigers.

SSU shot 42.9 percent from the field for the game and made 55 percent of their 3-point attempts.

Stetson, who was held without a field goal the final 4:40,  was led by Chris Perez's 12 points.