SAVANNAH, Ga.- Playing against his hometown team, Savannah State's Michael Swift scored a season-high 17 points to lead SSU to a 67-63 victory over Edward Waters on Saturday afternoon in Tiger Arena.

The crowd of 5,120 saw Swift, a sophomore guard from Jacksonville, Florida, make 7-of-9 shots from the field while getting three rebounds, three steals, one block and one assist to lead Savannah State to a four point win.

Edward Waters entered the game atop the standings in the SIAC Eastern Division but that didn't scare SSU.

Savannah State led 33-32 at the break and started the second half with 12 unanswered points to grab their largest lead of the game at 45-32 with 13-56 on the clock.

After a 3-pointer by Qua King with 7:50 remaining gave SSU a 55-45 lead, Edward Waters answered with a 10-2 spurt to close their gap to 57-55 with just over five minutes left.

Although Savannah State went the final two minutes without a field goal, the Tigers clinched the game by knocking down six of seven free throw shots down the stretch.

Javonte Landy, who made 7 of 9 of his free throws, came off the bench to add 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal while King chipped in ten rebounds, eight points, four assists, one block and one steal.

In a game that had three ties and seven lead changes, SSU led 14-6 after five minutes of play.

But EWU used a 9-0 run to take a 15-14 lead with 12:10left in the first period.

The rest of the half, the teams traded baskets with neither team leading by more than four points.

A layup by Jerry Maxinaud gave SSU a 33-30 advantage with 48 seconds left but Edward Waters (13-7, 9-3 SIAC) hit a pair of free throws with 34 seconds left to send Savannah State into the half holding a 33-32 lead.

Ayjay Plain had nine points for the Tigers and Jordan Mikel, who is also from Jacksonville, contributed eight points and four rebounds while making all four of his free throw attempts.

To round of the SSU scoring, Jeremiah Barze scored four points , Jacksonville native Austin Lewis hit a 3-pointer while Maxinaud, Kasai Fontanez and Damerius Puttman all had two points.

Savannah State also won the rebounding battle, 38-25.

The Tigers (8-9, 6-7 SIAC) will travel to Atlanta, Georgia to face Morehouse on February 3 at 7 p.m.

At halftime, the SSU Athletics Department honored former Savannah State linebacker Bobby Curtis.

Curtis was a member of the Washington Redskins team during the 1987 strike season when they won the Super Bowl.

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