SAVANNAH, Ga. – With the Savannah State University men's basketball team (12-13) down by nine at half and by as much as 19 in the first half, the Tigers outscored Allen University (11-16) 47-27 in the second half to record a 83-72 win over the Yellow Jackets in Tiger Arena Tuesday night for its fifth consecutive win.
 
Graduate student guard Christopher Martin led the Tigers with a career-high 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the floor, including 6-for-9 from the 3-point line, while graduate student forward Lenjo Kilo added 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the floor and led SSU with nine rebounds.
 
Freshman guard Kamil Williams added nine points, while junior guard Javaris Jenkins added seven points and senior forward Brian Pearson and junior guard Troyce Manassa each added six rebounds.
 
Allen shot 54.8 (17-for-31) percent from the floor in the first half, including 52.9 (9-for-17) percent from the 3-point line, but shot 32.0 (8-for-25) percent from the floor in the second half, including 18.2 (2-for-11) from the 3-point line for a game total of 44.6 (25-for-56) percent, including 11-for-28 (39.3 percent) from the 3-point line.
 
Savannah State shot 43.3 (13-for-30) percent from the floor in the first half, including 41.2 (7-for-17) percent from the 3-point line and shot 45.5 (15-for-33) percent from the floor in the second half, including 38.5 percent (5-for-13) from the 3-point line for a game total of 44.4 (28-for-63) percent from the floor, including 40.0 (12-for-30) percent from the 3-point line.
 
Allen scored the first eight points of the game to record an 8-0 lead with 17:20 remaining in the first half, but the Tigers scored the next eight points to tie it at eight with 15:48 left.  Allen outscored SSU 10-4 to take an 18-12 lead at the 12:05 mark, but the Tigers scored the next five points to pull within one, 18-17, with 11:04 left.
 
The Yellow Jackets scored 27 of the next 36 points to take a game-high 19 point lead, 45-26, at the 2:53 mark, but the Tigers chipped away at the lead by scoring the final 11 points of the first half to cut Allen's lead to nine, 45-36, heading into the locker room.  Williams led SSU with nine points, while Martin added eight points through the first half.
 
The Tigers opened the second half outscoring the Yellow Jackets 31-7 to take a 15-point lead, 67-52, with 11:07 remaining in the second half.  Allen scored five of the next seven points to cut the lead to 12, 69-57, at the 8:21 mark, but the Tigers scored the next six points to take an 18-point lead, 75-57, with 5:24 remaining in the game. 
 
With SSU holding an 18-point lead at 79-61 with 3:45 left, Allen outscored the Tigers 11-4 during the rest of the game to capture the 11-point win.  Martin led SSU with 17 points in the second half, while Kilo added 11 points and six rebounds. 
 
Allen was led by Arvel Atwater with 23 points and five rebounds, while Donald Marshall Jr., added 16 points and four rebounds and Sherrod Wade added 12 points and five rebounds. 
 
The Tigers continue the two-game homestand against South Carolina State University (16-12, 11-3 MEAC) Saturday at 6 p.m. in Tiger Arena.
 
Newspaper Box Score
Allen University vs Savannah State
2/23/16 7 p.m. at Savannah, Ga. (Tiger Arena)
At Savannah, Ga. (Tiger Arena)
SAVANNAH STATE 83, ALLEN UNIVERSITY 72
ALLEN UNIVERSITY (11-16)
Arvel Atwater 7-9 3-3 23; Donald Marshall Jr. 6-12 1-4 16; Sherrod Wade 4-12
4-5 12; Seth Fitzgerald 3-8 1-2 8; Emaray Johnson 1-4 2-2 5; Ivory Drummond
2-6 0-0 4; Shomari Johnson 1-1 0-0 2; Loce Hill 1-4 0-2 2; Derrick McCord
0-0 0-0 0; William McDuffie 0-0 0-0 0; Javonte Wills 0-0 0-0 0; See Man 0-0
0-0 0. Totals 25-56 11-18 72.
SAVANNAH STATE (12-13)
MARTIN,Christopher 9-17 1-2 25; KILO,Lenjo 6-8 3-5 15; WILLIAMS,Kamil 3-10
0-0 9; JENKINS,Javaris 2-4 2-2 7; MCCLANAHAN,Dexter 3-6 0-0 6;
MANASSA,Troyce 1-4 2-2 5; IDRIS,Teslim 2-4 0-0 4; PEARSON,Brian 1-2 2-6 4;
WELLS,Casey 1-4 0-0 3; PINKETT,Khalen 0-4 3-7 3; FELDER,Isaiah 0-0 2-2 2;
BAXTER,Jason 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-63 15-26 83.
Allen University..............   45   27  -   72
Savannah State................   36   47  -   83
3-point goals--Allen University 11-28 (Arvel Atwater 6-8; Donald Marshall
Jr. 3-7; Seth Fitzgerald 1-4; Emaray Johnson 1-4; Ivory Drummond 0-2;
Sherrod Wade 0-3), Savannah State 12-30 (MARTIN,Christopher 6-10;
WILLIAMS,Kamil 3-10; WELLS,Casey 1-3; MANASSA,Troyce 1-2; JENKINS,Javaris
1-1; PINKETT,Khalen 0-1; MCCLANAHAN,Dexter 0-2; KILO,Lenjo 0-1). Fouled
out--Allen University-Loce Hill; Ivory Drummond, Savannah State-None.
Rebounds--Allen University 32 (Ivory Drummond 5; Arvel Atwater 5; Sherrod
Wade 5), Savannah State 41 (KILO,Lenjo 9). Assists--Allen University 10
(Sherrod Wade 5), Savannah State 17 (PINKETT,Khalen 4; MANASSA,Troyce 4).
Total fouls--Allen University 24, Savannah State 19. Technical fouls--Allen
University-Donald Marshall Jr., Savannah State-KILO,Lenjo. A-1008
 
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