SAVANNAH, Ga.- Georgia Southern broke open a close game with a big run and went on to defeat Savannah State 94-75, in a game played at Tiger Arena.
SSU led 60-57 with 13 minutes remaining but the Eagles responded with a 23-8 run to grab a 80-68 lead with five and a half minutes left.
A pair of free throws by Troyce Manasa trimmed the SSU deficit to ten but a 14-5 spurt by the Eagles gave the visitors a commanding 94-75 cushion with 37 seconds left on the clock.
The game, which drew 3,708 fans, saw the Tigers go into intermission clinging to a 44-43 lead after shooting 57.7 percent from the floor in the opening period.
Savannah State made 11 of their 17 3-point attempts in the first half. The second half was a different story as Georgia Southern made the necessary defensive halftime adjustments and shut down the Tigers outside game which resulted in SSU only making 17.6 percent (3 of 17) of their 3-point shots.
The contest featured 10 ties and eight lead changes.
Georgia Southern led by as many as seven points in the first period before SSU stormed back with a 19-5 run to go ahead 23-16 with 9:12 left, following a 3-pointer by Kamil Williams.
GSU led 41-40 with just over a minute left but a free throw and a 3-pointer by Dexter McClanahan gave the Tigers a 44-41 edge with 23 seconds left.
Tookie Brown made a layup for the Eagles with one second left to trim the SSU lead to 44-43.
The second half remained close until GSU started their rally with 3-pointers from Brown and Ike Smith.
Austin Dasent led SSU (2-7) with 18 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals while Joshua Floyd added 13 points. Manassa scored 11 points for the Tigers.
SSU ended the contest shooting 43.9 percent from the floor and 41.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Tigers made 11 of 19 free throw attempts.
Georgia Southern outrebounded the Tigers 47 to 33.
Smith had a game-high 29 points for GSU (4-3).
The Eagles shot 46 percent from the floor, made 13 of 34 of their 3-point attempts and shot 61 percent from the free throw line.
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