MEMPHIS, Tn.- In the battle of the Tigers, it was Memphis who came out on top as Memphis scored eight unanswered points late in the second half to pull away from Savannah State in a 99-86 win over SSU.

With 6:38 remaining, Savannah State found itself down by 16 points but used a 9-2 run to get within 86-77.

Memphis answered with eight straight points to run their advantage back to double figures and SSU never got as close as 13 in the closing minutes.


Casey Wells led SSU (1-3) with a career-high 24 points. He also added four rebounds, three assists and two steals.


Wells connected on eight of his 13 3-point attempts which tied a school record. Steve Kelly made eight 3-pointers during the 1987-88 season against Albany State, Deric Rudolph made eight against South Carolina State during the 2011-12 season and Preston Blackman made eight against Morgan State during the 2012-13 season.


After three minutes of play in the first period, the contest was knotted at five but Memphis put together a 12-0 run to go ahead 17-5.

Savannah State answered the Memphis run with a 23-8 spurt to take a 28-25 lead with just over eight minutes remaining.

During the run, Wells nailed three 3-pointers while Dexter McClanahan and Troyce Manassa each hit a 3-pointer.

SSU went more than five minutes without a field goal which allowed Memphis to use a 16-1 run to make the score 41-29 with 3:28 on the clock.

Memphis led by 11 with 56 seconds showing but Savannah State finished the half with two free throws from McClanahan, a jumper by Jahir Cabeza and a 3-pointer by Kamil Williams to go into intermission down  48-44.

In the opening twenty minutes, Memphis used their size to outscore SSU 30-8 in the paint but the Savannah State bench players outscored the Memphis reserves 31-13.

Memphis started the second half with a 21-8 spurt to increase their advantage to 69-52 with 14:17 left in the game.

SSU shot 40 percent from the field and hit 16 of their 3-point attempts.

McClanahan had 16 points four assists and three rebounds for SSU while Cabeza added 13 points and five rebounds and Manassa chipped in 10 points.

Memphis (3-0) was led by Dedric Lawson, Craig Randall and KJ Lawson.

Dedric Lawson had 21 points and 14 rebounds, Randal had 21 points and KJ Lawson added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

The crowd of 8,689 saw Memphis shoot 48.1 percent from the floor and make just 24.1 percent of their 3-point shots.UM won the rebounding battle 55 to 33.