SAVANNAH, Ga.- Playing the meat of their SIAC schedule, Savannah State has had to scratch and claw in all of their conference games and Saturday's cat fight with Clark Atlanta was no different.

With just under ten minutes left in the game, the Tigers saw their 41-29 lead evaporate to two points with under a minute remaining but held on for a 52-50 win in Tiger Arena.

The crowd of 1,042 saw SSU turn a 32-29 lead into a 41-29 advantage, following a 9-0  run where four different players scored with Jeremiah Barze scored five points and Jaydon Cousin, Javonte Landy and Michael Swift each adding layups.

SSU led 50-39 with just under five minutes left but Clark Atlanta sliced the Tigers advantage to six with 3:33 on the clock.

A jumper by Qua King put SSU ahead 52-44 at the 2:14 mark and the Tigers, who went scoreless the rest of the way, held on as Clark Atlanta responded with six unanswered points.

CAU missed two 3-point shots in the closing 12 seconds which all allowed Savannah State to pull out the win.

Savannah State, who shot 55 percent from the floor in the second half, ended the game with 22 points off of 18 Panther turnovers. The Tiger reserves scored 25 points and SSU had 18 fast break points.

In the first period, SSU led 9-6 and scored eight straight points to go ahead 17-6 with 8:03 remaining.

Clark Atlanta was able to get their deficit down to three with 1:27 left but a 3-pointer by Kasai Fontanez and a layup by Landy at the end of the period sent the Tigers into intermission with a 24-18 advantage.

The Panthers (10-6, 7-2 SIAC) scored the first four points of the second period to get within 24-22 but SSU answered with back-to back layups from Jordan Mikel and Landy.

The game remained closed until a 9-0 run by Savannah State gave them a 12 point cushion.

Barze was the leading scorer for SSU with nine points.

Landy, King and Ayjay Plain all scored eight points, Fontanez had six, Swift and Cousin chipped in four apiece, Jerry Maxinaud had three and Mikel scored two.

King added five rebounds, Barze had two blocks and Fontanez had five steal and two assists.

Savannah State (7-7, 5-5 SIAC) is 2-0 at home under interim head coach Clevan Thompson and will travel to Allen on January 25.

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