Box Score
SAVANNAH, Ga.- After making 8 of 23 shots from the field in the first period, Middle Tennessee State shot 53.3 percent from the field in the second half as the Blue Raiders defeated Savannah State 58-55 in Tiger Arena.
 
The crowd of 890 saw the Tigers jump out to a 16-4 lead only to have MTSU rally with 11 unanswered points to close their gap to 16-15 with 7:51 on the clock.
 
The Blue Raiders Bruce Massey made a layup that tied the game at 20 with 4:03 remaining but SSU scored the next seven points to go ahead 27-20 as Deven Williams hit a layup followed by a 3-pointer and Rashad Hassan hit a jumper.
 
SSU led 29-23 at the half.
 
Middle Tennessee came out of the gates in the second half with a 9-2 spurt to take their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Marcos Knight with 15:57 on the clock.
 
With the game knotted at 35, MTSU scored seven straight points to go ahead 42-35 at the 10:53 mark.
 
A layup by Hassan would get SSU within 46-43 with 7:31 left and a Stephen Wilson layup with 5:01 remaining would close the Tigers deficit to 49-47.
 
Trailing by four, Savannah State received a pair of free throws from Arnold Louis and a layup by Preston Blackman tied the game at 52 with 3:20 left.
 
Two free throws each from JT Sulton and Knight put MTSU ahead by four but a jumper and free throw by Hassan with 41 seconds remaining drew SSU within 56-55.
 
Massey made two free throws with nine seconds left and a 3-point attempt by Blackman at the buzzer was no good and the Blue Raiders improved to 2-0.
 
The Tigers shot 39.6 percent from the floor and 47.8 percent from the free throw line. SSU only made 2 of 16 3-point attempts.
 
Hassan had 16 points and 6 rebounds for Savannah State (1-1) while Williams came off he bench to score 10 points.
 
Knight, a native of Rentz, Georgia, had a game-high 21 points and 7 rebounds for MTSU.