SAVANNAH, Ga.- Pendarvis Williams came off the bench to score a game-high 16 points to lead Norfolk State to a 55-45 win over Savannah State in Tiger Arena, before a crowd of 1,410.

SSU lost, despit holding Norfolk State without a field goal the final 5:21.

The Spartans (4-5, 1-0) shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the second half while holding SSU to 22.6 percent.

It was the first ever Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference home loss for Savannah State (5-4, 0-1).

SSU scored the first four points of the contest and led 9-2 after a trio of free throws by Stephen Wilson with 17:28 on the clock.

Norfolk State rallied to cut their deficit to 9-8 after a layup by Kris Brown but the Tigers received back to back 3-pointers from Preston Blackman and Wilson to go ahead by five.

Trailing 19-14, the Spartans used a jumper by Williams and one free throw apiece from Brandon Goode and Malcom Hawkins to tie the game at 19 with 8:16 left.

SSU held the Spartans scoreless for almost four minutes as they went ahead 26-19 with 4:19 left before intermission.

A jumper by Wilson with 2:07 left gave SSU a 28-21 advantage but the Spartans scored the final four points of the half.

Savannah State led 28-25 at the break.

Norfolk State tied the game at 30 and took their first lead of the game (32-30) at the 15:41 mark on a layup by Goode.

The Tigers trailed 39-37 with 7:23 remaining in the game but NSU put together a 12-2 run to put the game out of reach.

Savannah State's offense came from their back-court with Wilson scoring 13 points and Blackman added 12. Arnold Louis came off the bench to grab 10 rebounds.

THE BLACKMAN WATCH: Senior guard Preston Blackman is inching closer to scoring his 1,000th career point in a SSU uniform. After nine games, the Hopkins, South Carolina native has 931 points and needs 69 more to reach 1,000.