SAVANNAH, Ga.- With the game knotted at 49, Jeremiah Barze responded with two free throws followed by a layup which propelled Savannah State to a 68-63 win over a pesky Allen team on Monday night at Tiger Arena.

Barze's four-point swing gave the Tigers a 53-49 lead with 8:15 remaining and they maintained their lead the rest of the game.

Allen got to within 53-52 with 7:11 left but a pair of free throws by Javonte Landy and a layup by Jaydon Cousin put the Tigers ahead by five.

With 36 seconds left, Savannah State led 64-61 and used two free throws by Michael Swift and another by Landy to put the game away.

The win improved the Tigers to 5-0 at home under interim head coach Clevan Thompson.

In a game that had four ties and four lead changes, SSU had 11 points off 12 Allen turnovers, received 30 points from its bench players, scored 28 points in the paint, had 20 second chance points and won the rebounding battle 31 to 27.

Savannah State opened the contest with a 16-4 spurt that was capped with Barze getting a steal and throwing the ball to Ayjay Plain who lobbed it to Qua King for a ally opp dunk at the 12:53 mark.

A dunk by Cousin with 9:33 left put SSU ahead 21-10 but Allen kept fighting a whittled the Tigers lead to five. A layup by Swift and a 3-pointer by Landy pushed the lead back to double digits.

The Yellow Jackets responded with a 12-3 rally that cut Savannah State's lead to 34-33 with just over a minute remaining in the first period.

Austin Lewis drove to the basket for a layup with 37 seconds left in half as the Tigers went into the locker room with a 36-33 lead.

Twice in the second half, Allen (5-15, 2-13 SIAC) was able to take a short-lived one point lead, with the last time being with 45-44 with 12:57 remaining.

Plain and Landy each scored 14 points for the Tigers while King netted 12 points. Plain added four assists while King chipped in five rebounds, three blocks and three assists.

Barze scored eight points and had five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Cousin had six points, Swift and Jerry Maxinaud scored four each while  Lewis, Damerius Puttman and Kasai Fontanez all had two points apiece.

The Tigers (10-10, 8-8) will look to extend their winning ways to three when they travel to Clark Atlanta on February 17 for a 7:30 p.m. tip.

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