HUNTINGTON, W. Va.- The Savannah State men's basketball team ended the 2012 portion of their season with a 64-48 loss to Marshall in Henderson Arena, before a crowd of 5,316.

The loss was also the Tigers fourth in a row and dropped their overall record to 5-7.

A dunk by Arnold Louis cut the Thundering Herd lead to 43-39 with 8:28 remaining but Marshall answered with a 11-1 run to go ahead by 14 with 2:12 on the clock, to put SSU away.

SSU opened the second half with a jumper by Rashad Hassan that tied the game at 27.

MU led by four but a layup by Cedric Smith got the Tigers within 37-35 at the 14:23 mark.

The Herd answered with five straight points to increase their lead to seven.

Chris Spears' layup pulled SSU within five but a free throw by Marshall made it a 43-37 contest before Louis' dunk got the Tigers within striking distance at four points.

A pair of free throws by Dennis Tinnon gave Marshall their biggest lead of the game at 16 with just over a minute remaining.

SSU, who shot 33.3 percent from the floor, was led by Hassan who had 11 points and eight rebounds. Khiry White scored 10 points off the bench.

Marshall shot 41.7 percent from he field. The Herd made 19 of 31 free throw attempts while SSU made 6 of 10.

Savannah State jumped out to a 14-8 lead but a 12-2 run by the Herd gave the home team a 18-16 edge with 9:29 left in the opening half.

With the game tied at 18, Marshall scored seven straight points but SSU ended the final 6:30 with a 7-2 run.

Marshall led 27-25 at the break.

The Herd (7-5) was led by D. D. Scarver's 18 points.