ST. LEO, Fla.- Savannah State opened their 2025-25 season on Friday night, falling 78-68 to St. Leo in a game played at the Marion Bowman Center.

Senior guard Javonte Landy had a double-double for the Tigers. The Savannah, Georgia native matched his career-high with 23 points to go with his ten rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Savannah State trailed by ten with 6:08 left in the first half before using a 8-1 to cut their deficit to three with 2:19remaining, following a layup by Zion Davis.

St. Leo closed the half with a 8-2 spurt and took a 37-28 advantage into intermission.

A free throw, layup and a jumper to start the second period gave the Lions a 14-point cushion but SSU was able to battle their way back in the game and a dunk by James Leach with 14:09 left whittled the St. Leo lead down to single digits at 47-39.

Down 14, the Tigers received back-to-back 3-pointers from Landy and Micah Johnson along with a pair of free throws by Zyere Edwards and a dunk by Kelvin Cochran to pull within 57-51 at the 10:46 mark.

St. Leo answered by scoring the next ten points to go ahead by 16 but Savannah State was not to be outdone, as a jumper by Landy jump-started a 14-2 run that cut the Lions lead to 69-65 with 1:53 left in the game.

During the run, Landy contributed a jumper and a layup, Davis added a 3-pointer, jumper and three free throws while Chancellor Wilson and Leach both made one free throw each.

After a basket gave St. Leo a 71-65 advantage, the Lions finished the final minute hitting seven free throws.

SSU's final points came on a 3-pointer by Edwards with 41 seconds showing on the clock.

The Tigers out-rebounded St. Leo 49 to 39, had more second chance points (21 to 3) and points in the paint (30 to 20) but the Lions shot 42.6 percent from the field and had more trips to the free throw line, making 24 of 37 shots while SSU was 16 of 24.

In his first game since the 2023-24 season, Zion Davis added 16 points for the Tigers while Zyere Edwards and James Leach both provided a spark off the bench with Edwards scoring ten points and dishing out four assists while Leach grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked three shots to go with his five points.

Savannah State (0-1) will take on Florida Southern on November 15 at 7 p.m.

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