SAVANNAH, Ga.- Down by as many as 14 points in the second half, Savannah State's rally fell short as they lost a 82-78 decision to North Carolina Central.
 
The Tigers were down by 11 with just under three minutes left in the second period when they strung together a 12-3 run that drew them within three, 76-73.
 
During the final 1:07 the Eagles lead would never dip below three points.
 
SSU (5-15, 2-4 MEAC) was down 78-75 with 29 seconds left and had a chance to slice their deficit to one but Adam Saeed missed a pair of free throws.
 
Trailing 81-76, Jaquan Dotson's layup at the three second mark got the Tigers within three but could get no closer.
 
Dotson led a trio of Tigers in double figures with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
Zach Sellers added 15 points, four assists and four steals while John Grant chipped in 13 points.
 
North Carolina Central started the game with a 13-4 run and increased their lead to 21-9 with 13:25 left in the opening half.
 
Fueled by two 3-pointers by Qua Smith and another by Sellers, SSU put together a 17-7 run that knotted the game at 28 with 6:23 remaining.
 
A Tyrell Harper 3-pointer pulled Savannah State within 32-31 with 4:48 remaining but the Eagles closed out the half with a 8-3 spurt and took a 40-34 advantage into the half.
 
NCCU began the second half with a 11-4 run to increase their lead to 51-38 with 14:58 left.
 
The Tiger Arena crowd of 2,105 saw the Eagles stretch their lead to 14 with 13:09 remaining but a 8-2 Savannah State run got the Tigers within 58-50.
 
Savannah State shot 45.2 percent from the field for the game. The Tigers made 12 of 16 free throw attempts while NCCU connected on 16 of 26 attempts.
 
North Carolina Central shot 52.6 percent from the field and controlled the rebounds 45 to 24.
 
Zacarry Douglas had 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles (10-11, 5-2 MEAC).
 
  
TIP INS:
 
*  Zach Sellers extended his streak of scoring at least two points in a game to 51 games
 
* Among those in attendance at the game was 1989 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Mel Blount whose son plays for NCCU.
 
* Birthday wishes go out to junior guard Amaru Bryant, who was born January 28.
 
* Tyrell Harper (123), Jaquan Dotson (124) and Romani Hansen (112) each have over 100 rebounds on the season.
 
* Newcomers Andrew Okorodudu andChristian Carson scored their first points as members of the team. Okorodudu scored two points while Carson chipped in three points