SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Savannah State men's basketball team faced a tough Central State team on Monday, falling 68-85 in Tiger Arena.
 
The Tigers move to 1-3 on the season and 1-1 in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) play. SSU hits the road for one non-conference game against Claflin on Friday and two SIAC games against LeMoyne-Owens and Miles College before returning to Tiger Arena on Dec. 19 to face Spring Hill College in an SIAC game.
 
Central State opened Monday's game with a 14-3 run and never looked back. Midway through the first half, SSU cut into the visitor's lead behind good 3-pointers from Marcus Scott and Kevin McLeod, trimming the Marauder's double-digit lead to nine points with 9:28 to play.
 
Two minutes later, Avery Joyner sank a good free-throw to get SSU within five of the visitor's lead, but Central State pushed their lead back out with a 7-0 run following Joyner's basket.
 
In the waning minutes of the opening half, SSU dug in with another good 3-pointer from Scott and Bonds to again get within five points of the lead. With 33 seconds to play, however, Theo Howard drained a 3-pointer and Central State took an eight-point lead into the locker room.
 
The Marauders carried over that momentum into the second half, opening the first five minutes with a massive 14-4 run behind four good 3-pointers. Midway through the second half, Central State took one of their largest leads of the game, 24 points, behind a good 3-pointer from Darweshi Hunter.
 
SSU whittled down the visitor's lead in the last few minutes of the game, but the final push fell short as Central State sealed up their first SIAC win of the season.
 
Central State shot 42.9% from the beyond the arc, dropping 12 of 28 attempts. They shot 47% from the field as well. SSU struggled from the field, pacing 32.8% and fared even worse with the long ball, shooting 29.3% on three's, dropping 12 of 41 attempts.
 
Bonds led the Tigers with 17 points. The junior from Savannah has emerged as SSU's top scorer this season, averaging 20.3 points a game. Joyner put away a season-high 14 points on Monday followed by Amaru Bryant, who had 11.
 
Quinton Glaspie had a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds for Central State. Hunter recorded 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Marauders. Keandre Graves added 11 points, while Tom Johnson put in 10.