NORFOLK, Va.- Savannah State held Bethune-Cookman without a field goal for almost ten minutes as the Tigers down B-CU 57-50 in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament.
Those in attendance at The Scope saw Savannah State trailing 48-42 with 5:29 remaining but responded to end the game with a 15-2 run to advance to the conference semi-final game on March 11.
Cookman scored their last field goal of the evening with 9:55 left when Marquel Ingram hit a 3-pointer.
SSU led by ten at the half and increased their lead to 34-23 with 15:12 left in the second period.
Bethune-Cookman responded with a 18-4 run that gave the Wildcats a 41-38 edge with 7:54 remaining.
The Wildcats lead grew to six with about five and a half minutes left before SSU ended the game with a big run.
Javaris Jenkins came off the bench to score 12 points and grab nine rebounds for Savannah State while Chris Martin added 10 points. After shooting 45.4 percent from the field in the opening period, Savannah State (16-14)went cold in the second half and only shot 19.2 percent from the field.
In the first half, the score was tied 7-7 but a 14-4 spurt by the Tigers put Savannah State ahead 21-11 with 5:49 on the clock.
SSU led by a many as 13 points in the opening half.
Cookman closed their gap to eight but a jumper by Manassa gave the Tigers a 30-20 lead as they went into intermission.
Mario Moody led Cookman with a game-high 14 points and 13 rebounds.
The Wildcats (14-18), who won the rebounding battle 43 to 36, shot 26 percent from the floor on the night.
Tip ins:
Savannah State has won nine of their past ten games.....Jenkins did not play when SSU met Bethune in January.....Martin celebrated his 23rd birthday on March 4
Bethune-Cookman defeated SSU 62-59 during the regular season.....The Wildcats only made one of their 13 3-point attempts in the first half.....Moody had his 6th straight double-double
Up next:
SSU will play Hampton in the semi-finals on March 11, 2016
B-CU ends their season.
