ATLANTA, Ga.- Savannah State advanced to the semifinals of the 2025 SIAC Tournament after their 63-61 upset of Miles on Wednesday afternoon at Forbes Arena on the Morehouse campus.

Javonte Landy and Qua King both scored 17 points for the Tigers while Ayjay Plain added 11 points.

Miles entered the game as the number one seed from the SIAC West while the Tigers were the number four seed out of the SIAC East.

During the regular season, the Golden Bears defeated SSU 68-55 and this was Savannah State's first win over Miles since December 2022.

In a game that had 14 ties and 22 lead changes, Savannah State trailed by one with two minutes remaining but a jumper in the lane by Jerry Maxinaud gave SSU a 61-60 edge with just under a minute left and a pair of free throws by King with 11 seconds left put the Tigers ahead 63-60.

Alvin Miles hit the first of two free throw attempts for MC with three seconds left to pull the Golden Bears within 63-61 on what would turn out to be the final points of the game.

The Tigers won the rebounding battle, 32 to 29.

Savannah State finished the game shooting 42 percent from the field while only making 4 of 14 shots from beyond the arch. SSU connected on 17 of 22 free throw attempts.

With the game tied at 4-4 in the first period, a 3-pointer by Jeremiah Barze, a jumper by Plain and a 3-pointer by King helped the Tigers to their largest lead of the game at 12-6with 14:06 on the clock.

The teams continued to trade baskets the remainder of the half with nobody leading by more than three points.

Miles led 34-33 with just under two minutes remaining but a pair of free throws by Landy with 1:04 on the clock were enough to send the Tigers into intermission with a one point halftime lead.

The second half was a carbon copy of the first, with the teams trading baskets and not letting the other out of its sight.

Landy also had three assists, King added six rebounds and three steals and Plain chipped in three rebounds and three assists.

Michael Swift scored eight points, Barze had five, Maxinaud had four and Jaydon Cousin added a free throw in the win.

Savannah State (16-11, 12-9 SIAC) will advance to the semifinals on Friday where they will face the winner of the game between Morehouse and Central State.

During the regular season, SSU and Morehouse split their two games while the Tigers lost to Central State 74-72 in December 2024.

The 16 wins are the most by a SSU team since the 2015-16 season when they finished 16-16.

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