SAVANNAH, Ga. – It was a tale of two halves this regular season for the Savannah State men's basketball team, but in the end the Tigers finished the 2019-20 regular season strong.

After opening the season with a six-game losing streak through all of December, the winter break seemed to invigorate the Tigers in January. They broke their losing streak on Jan. 18 with an 82-77 win over Fort Valley State and followed that with an upset of top-ranked Clark Atlanta on Jan. 20.

Savannah State beat Fort Valley State 64-59, this past Saturday, to end the regular season with a 10-12 overall record and a 10-9 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) record—their best conference effort since going 12-4 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) during the 2017-18 season.

Depending on the final regular season games of Morehouse College this week, Savannah State men's basketball will end up as the No. 3 or No. 4 seed out of the SIAC East Division heading into the SIAC Basketball Championship March 2-7. The official bracket for the 2020 SIAC Basketball Championship will be released on Friday, Feb. 28.

Savannah State picked up all 10 conference wins in 2020. Getting some bench help was a factor for the Tigers in the second half of this year's schedule. Trey DeLoach became eligible just before the winter break and ended up being an important offensive weapon for the Tigers through the rest of the season.

Avery Joyner too, came alive late in the season, scoring in the double-figures in the team's final four games. But for most of the season Adrian Bonds, "Rico," led the scoring effort for the Tigers. Bonds missed the last five games of the season due to injury. But his efforts early in the season has him still at the top of the team leaderboard, averaging 17.6 points a game.  

The story of the final stretch of the regular season for Savannah State, and some big SIAC wins, though was been centered around freshman Marcus Scott. The Hinesville, Georgia led the Tigers to several victories down the stretch including top-notch efforts this past week.

In Thursday's close, 61-69, loss to Clark Atlanta, Scott led Savannah State with 18 points on the night. He's averaging 16.3 a game this season and played in 21 of the Tigers 22 games this season. Defensive giant Andrew Okorodudu is the only player to play in all 22 games. He led the team in rebounds with 177 and in blocks with 25 during the regular season.

But it was Joyner who would lead the stats in Saturday's final game. Joyner put in a game-high 23 points, going 6-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from the 3-point line and 9-for-14 from the free-throw line. He averaged 10.4 points a game this season. Scott wasn't too far behind with 19 points of his own, hitting 6-of-18 field goal attempts in the win. Zion Williams added 12 for the Tigers as well.