SAVANNAH, Ga.- Javonte Landy and Michael Swift had the best game of their careers in leading Savannah State to a 87-71 win over Kentucky State in the opening round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament on March 5, 2024 in Tiger Arena.
 
SSU was the fifth seed in the SIAC East while the Thorobreds were the fourth seed in the SIAC West.
 
Landy scored a career-high 21 points and Swift added a personal-best 18 points to secure the Tigers a spot in the conference quarterfinals.
 
A Savannah native, Landy opened the game with a jumper and KSU's Aziel Blackwell matched it to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Savannah State answered by scoring the next 12 points for a 14-2 lead with 16:07 left in the first period.
 
Five different Tigers scored during the stretch with Landy scoring four points and Qua King, Chancellor Wilson, Austin Lewis and Swift adding two points each.
 
With 4:30 remaining in the first period, a pair of free throws by Swift put SSU ahead 35-19.
 
The crowd of 1,142 saw the Thorobreds get as close as 11 but went into the half down 42-30.
 
Savannah State (13-13, 10-11 SIAC) came out hot, shooting 53 percent from the floor in the first half and making 50 percent of their 3-point shots while hold KSU to a 36.7 first half shooting percentage.
 
In the post-game press conference, Swift said that their defense played a major role in them getting the win.
 
"We set the tone with defense by pressuring the ball and getting in the gaps."
 
SSU entered the game with the second best defense in the conference.
 
"The early scores gave us a opportunity to do some things on defense," said head coach Horace Broadnax.
 
Kentucky State found themselves down by 11 early in the second period but a 14-4 run by the Tigers that was capped by a jumper by Swift gave SSU a 61-40 lead at the 11:06 mark.
 
With just under eight minutes left, KSU sliced their deficit to 12 but Savannah State responded by using a 14-4 spurt which gave them their largest lead of the afternoon at 79-57, following a fast break dunk by Wilson with 4:23 left.
 
Kentucky State (12-14, 9-11 SIAC) could get no closer than 16 the remainder of the contest.
 
SSU finished the second period making 71.4 percent of their shots from the floor while connecting on both 3-point attempts.
 
Ayjay Plain came off the bench to score 15 points and King added 13 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers.
 
Wilson ended the game with nine points, Lewis added six and Jordan Mikel chipped in five.
 
Lavar Miller and Joseph Owens bot had 13 points for KSU.
 
Thorobreds head coach Jamaal Jackson said his team felt confident and were mentally ready for the game but could not recover from their slow start.
"We came out slow but wasn't able to knock down the shots."
 
Savannah State will face Clark Atlanta in the quarterfinals in Tiger Arena on March 7 at 2:30 p.m. The Panthers were the top seed in the SIAC East.
 
Broadnax and his players are aware of CAU's success this season.
 
"You have to respect who they are," said Broadnax. "We look forward to the challenge."
 
Swift said that the Panthers have some of the best scorers in the SIAC but is counting on SSU's defense to make a difference while Landy stated that in order to win, the Tigers need to be more aggressive on defense.
 
The Panthers (22-5, 16-5) beat Savannah State in both of their meetings this season. CAU won 50-49 in Tiger Arena on January 22 and 72-54 in Atlanta, Georgia on February 10.