SAVANNAH, Ga.- Dejuan Clayton's short jumper with three seconds left proved to be the game winner as Coppin State rallied from a 16 point deficit to defeat Savannah State 84-83.
 
It was the first time in six tries that CSU has defeated the Tigers.
 
The Tiger Arena crowd of 1,630 saw Savannah State with a commanding 65-49 lead with 8:40 left in the game.
 
Coppin State used a 23-7 run to tie the game at 72 with 3:51 remaining after a dunk by Chas Brown.
 
The game was tied at 76 and again at 80 with 1:25 left.
 
A layup and free throw by Dexter McClanahan gave the Tigers a 83-80 lead with 52 seconds remaining.
 
Two free throws by CSU's Josh Treadwell pulled the visitors to within 83-82 with 35 seconds on the clock.
 
SSU got the ball back but Coppin State's Terry Harris stole the ball from Troyce Manassa and called a timeout.
 
Lucian Brownlee missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left but Clayton grabbed the rebound and put it back up for the winning basket.
 
Manassa tried a desperation 3-pointer in the end but it was partially blocked by Brown.
 
SSU, who has lost their last four outings, ended the game shooting 41.4 percent from the field and made just 28 percent of their 3-point attempts. The Tigers converted 14 of 22 free throw attempts.
 
McClanahan scored a game-high 28 points, making five 3-pointers while Manassa added 22 points. Zach Sellers came off the bench to contribute 11 points.
 
SSU opened the game with McClanahan, Manassa, Joshua Floyd and Sellers all hitting 3-pointers as they jumped out to a 15-4 lead.
 
Coppin State whittled their deficit to four but the Tigers used a 12-2 rally to extend their lead to 31-17 with just under nine minutes left in the half.
 
The Eagles closed their gap to 32-24 with 6:51 left but SSU finished out the half by outscoring CSU 12-7 to take a 44-31 lead into intermission.
 
Six minutes into the second half, Coppin State cut their deficit to six but a 14-4 run by the Tigers gave them their largest lead of the night at 65-49 with 8:40 left.
 
Brown led CSU with 19 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
 
The Eagles out-rebounded SSU 49 to 43 while shooting 40.8 percent from the field, 29 percent from 3-point range and 70.8 percent from the free throw line.