SAVANNAH, Ga.- Playing their final game of a four-game home-stand, Savannah State defeated Bethune-Cookman 79-70 before a crowd of 2,600 at Tiger Arena.
 
Jaquan Dotson had a double-double for the Tigers with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Dotson made seven of 12 shots from the floor and seven of 10 free throw attempts.
 
Romani Hansen added 14 points and six rebounds, Collins Joseph scored 11 points and Zach Sellers chipped in 10 points and six assists.
 
The win gives the Tigers a 10-16 overall record and 7-5 mark in conference play.
 
SSU started the game with 3-pointrs from Dotson and Joseph for a 6-0 lead but Bethune rallied back to go ahead 9-8 with 14:56 left in the half.
 
Savannah State responded with eight straight points to go ahead 16-9 but the Wildcats battled back to tie the game at 18 apiece at the 10:02 mark.
 
The rest of the half was close with SSU leading by no more than four points as they went into the intermission with a 37-33 edge.
 
The Tigers opened the second half with a 16-6 spurt that put them ahead by 14.
 
A 3-pointer by Joseph with 8:17 left gave SSU their largest lead of the night at 64-49.
 
Bethune-Cookman answered with a 9-2 run that closed their gap to eight with 6:25 remaining.
 
With Savannah State leading 71-58 with 4:29 left, the Wildcats put together a rally that brought them as close as six points but the visitors from Daytona Beach, Florida would not get any closer.
 
The Wildcats used their size to out-score SSU 28-8 in the paint in the second half.
 
Savannah State ended the contest shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc and 68.2 percent from the free throw line.
 
B-CU (12-15, 7-6 MEAC) was led by Cletrell Pope and Dondre Duffus who scored 13 points apiece.
 
The Wildcats shot 36.1 percent from the floor and made five of 25 attempts from the 3-point line.Bethune went 13 of 23 from the  charity stripe.
 
TIP INS:
 
*  Zach Sellers extended his streak of scoring at least two points in a game to 57 games
 
* Jaquan Dotson had his third double-double of the season
 
* SSU shot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half
 
* The Tigers have won five of their last six games
 
*SSU head coach Horace Broadnax was an assistant coach Bethune-Cookman from 1993-94 and later as the Wildcats head coach from 1997-02