SAVANNAH, Ga.- Qua King scored 25 points to lead the Savannah State University men's basketball team to a 85-77 upset victory over 11th ranked Benedict College, before a Tiger Arena crowd of 1,858 fans on February 3, 2024.
 
Just four days earlier, Benedict defeated Savannah State 83-53 in Columbia, South Carolina.
 
This time, Savannah State raced out to a 17-6 lead, thanks to a trio of 3-pointers and a layup from Javonte Landy.
 
After Benedict got within eight, SSU answered with a 10-2 spurt behind the play of King who made three free throws, a layup and a jumper along with Ayjay Plain who nailed a 3-pointer with 11:38 on the clock.
 
With just under eight minutes left, Benedict whittled their deficit to seven but Savannah State answered as Zion Davis' 3-pointer kick started a 12-3 rally that gave the home-standing Tigers a 39-23 cushion.
 
Another 3-pointer by Zion put SSU ahead 44-27 with 1:29 left in the half.
 
Savannah State, who led 44-29 at the break, made the most of their possessions in the opening half, making 53.3 percent of their field goals, 60 percent of their 3-point attempts and connecting on six of their seven free throw attempts.
 
Benedict chipped SSU's lead down to 13 points with 15:26 showing on the clock but Savannah State used a 3-pointer by Davis along with a layup and a jumper by King to open up their largest lead of the contest at 59-39 with 13:49 remaining.
 
Benedict held SSU without a field goal for nearly three minutes as they put together a 13-4 run to slice their deficit to 72-66 with 3:16 left.
 
Eight unanswered points by Savannah State increased their cushion to 80-66 with just over a minute remaining to basically seal the upset win.
 
The Tigers ended the game shooting 51.9 percent from the field. The SSU bench also produced as they outscored the Benedict reserve players 49-9.Savannah State scored 22 points off of 16 Benedict turnovers and out-rebounded BC 31 to 25.
 
Davis added 18 points in a winning effort.
 
After scoring a career-high 12 points against Edward Waters on January 27, Landy scored a personal best 15 against Benedict and Jordan Mikel chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
Plain and Chancellor Wilson netted six points each while Michael Swift and Austin Lewis scored two points apiece.
 
The victory improves Savannah State to 9-10 overall and 7-8 in the SIAC.
 
Benedict (17-3, 11-3) was led by Tim Moore's 27 points.
 
SSU will host Allen University in Tiger Arena on February 5 at 7:30 p.m.