SAVANNAH, Ga.- Playing without four of their tallest players didn't matter as Savannah State scored ten straight points during a 18-2 run to blow open a close game and went on to defeat crosstown foe Armstrong State 66-51 in a exhibition game.
 
The vocal Tiger Arena crowd of 4,650 saw SSU build a 37-27 lead with just under 15 minutes left in the game but the Pirates whittled their deficit to 37-34 at the 12:22 mark.
 
After a 30 second timeout, the Tigers put together a defensive effort that held ASU without a field goal until Marcus Hopper made a layup with 6:11 remaining.
 
Savannah State answered with freshman guard Khalen Pickett converting a steal into a layup that gave the home team a 57-37 cushion with 5:50 on the clock.
 
The Pirates closed their gap to 63-49 with 36 seconds left but SSU's Demarcus Bryant answered with a three pointer before Armstrong's Jonathan Blair hit a pair of free throws for the final points of the contest with four seconds left.
 
Pinkett and sophomore center Saadiq Muhammad each tallied 12 points for the Tigers and Bryant chipped in 11 points. The 6'7" Muhammad added a game-high nine rebounds in the win.
 
SSU also received a good effort from sophomore Javaris Jenkins who had nine points, six rebounds, three blocks and three steals while freshman Jamal Norman had eight points.
 
Jumpers by Pinkett and Jenkins gave Savannah State an early 4-0 lead and a layup and free throw by Muhammad at the 16:11 mark increased their lead to 7-1.
 
It took six minutes for Armstrong to make their first field goal, a layup by Shaquiell Mitchell.
 
The Pirates rallied to trim SSU's lead to 12-11 with 9:49 on the clock on a jumper by Mitchell but the Tigers had a answer and eventually went ahead by six.
 
After Blair made a layup to cut ASU's six-point deficit to 20-18 with just under three minutes remaining, SSU finished the half on a 7-2 spurt and took a 27-20 lead into intermission.
 
Blair, who had a game-high 14 points, got the Pirates within three early in the second half with a jumper and a layup but a 10-3 run by Savannah State gave the Tigers a 37-27 lead with 14:59 remaining.
 
Emmanuel Tiluscar scored 11 points for ASU and had six rebounds while Mitchell added nine points and seven rebounds.
 
The Pirates out-rebounded SSU 41 to 40 but made 24 turnovers to the Tigers 14. SSU also had 12 steals.
 
Savannah State will play West Georgia in their final exhibition game on November 10 in Tiger Arena at 7 p.m.