DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- Ayjay Plain scored 19 points to help Savannah State overcome a double-digit deficit to earn their first win over the season, a 78-73 victory over Embry-Riddle, in a game played November 16, 2024 in the ICI Center.

Plain, who also had five assists, four steals and three rebounds, made nine of ten of his free throw attempts.

Savannah State trailed 49-37 with 12:33 remaining in the game and found themselves down by 11 with ten and a half minutes left before using a 16-3 run to tie the game at 57 on a pair of free throws by Qua King with 6:55 showing on the clock and take a 59-57 lead with 6:32 left on a layup by Jerry Maxinaud.

Although the game would have two more ties, SSU would never trail again.
Using two free throws apiece from Javonte Lundy and Plain, the Tigers built a 69-63 advantage with 3:52 remaining but Embry-Riddle was able to keep pace and tied the game at 73 with 28 seconds remaining.

The SSU defense would not allow the Eagles to score again as Savannah State finished the contest with five unanswered points with King hitting a layup and a free throw with 15 seconds left and Jeremiah Barze adding two free throws with six ticks left on the clock.

Barze added 18 points and King chipped in 17 points for the Tigers. Both were also effective from the free throw line with Barze making 6 of 7 attempts while King was good on 9 of his 11 attempts. Maxinaud had a game-high 13 rebounds for SSU.

The teams traded baskets and the lead several times in the first half.

Savannah State trailed 21-18 with just under eight minutes left in the opening half before the Eagles put together a 11-2 run to stretch their lead to a dozen.

The Tigers trimmed their deficit to nine after a free throw by Plain and two more by Damerius Puttman at the 2:41 mark but Embry-Riddle answered with a 6-1 mini-run to get their largest lead of the night at 38-24 with 1:53 left.

A layup by Warner Davis with under a minute left in the half sent Savannah State down 38-26 at intermission.

SSU began the second half with a 9-2 spurt to close their gap to 40-45 that was capped by a dunk by Barze with 16:56 remaining.

After making just seven field goals in the opening period, Savannah State shot 45.5 percent from the floor in the second half that led to them scoring 52 points.

The win over Embry-Riddle was big for the Tigers.

Embry-Riddle went 22-10 last season and reached the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Savannah State (1-2) will play USC Beaufort on November 26 in the 2nd Annual River Rivalry at EnMarket Arena at 7:30 p.m.

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