Savannah State holds off Hamptonm 103-101

SAVANNAH, Georgia -- In a game featuring two, teams on the verge of leaving the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, both squads tallied a combined 204 points and had five players score at least 20 points.

Alante Fenner's layup with 21 seconds left gave Savannah State a 100-99 lead and a pair of free throws by Zach Sellers increased it to 102-99 with 11 seconds remaining.

After Hampton's MaliqueTrent-Street made two free throws to get the Pirates within 102-101, SSU's Javaris Jenkins sealed the win with a free throw with six seconds left to give the Tigers a 103-101 win.

It was the first time SSU defeated Hampton since an 86-83 win on January 24, 2015. The series between Savannah State and Hampton dates back to the 1973-74 season.

Hampton (6-12, 1-2 MEAC) will be leaving the MEAC after this season while Savannah State will leave the conference following the 2018-19 season.

The Tiger Arena crowd of 2,219 saw Savannah State lead by one point at the half but the Pirates started the second period with a 17-3 run to go ahead 65-52 with 16:58 left in the game.

The Tigers chipped away at their deficit and found themselves down by eight with 10:44 showing. That led to Jenkins kick-starting a 17-2 run with a 3-pointer where five different players scored.

The SSU spurt gave them a 84-77 edge with 7:38 remaining.

Two free throws by senior Khallen Pinckett with 4:40 remaining pushed the Tigers lead to 93-83 but Hampton strung together a 16-5 rally of their own to grab a 99-98 lead with 50 seconds left.

Savannah State (7-13, 4-1 MEAC) led 49-48 at intermission. The first half featured six ties and eight lead changes.

A 3-pointer by Dexter McClanahan gave SSU their largest lead of the night at 37-22 with 6:30 left but Hampton used a 19-4 run to tie the game at 41 with 2:34 remaining.

Savannah State had three players to score at least 20 points. McClanahan had 25 points, Fenner added 22 and Jenkins had 20 points and 10 rebounds. Sellers chipped in 13 points.

The Tigers shot 42.3 percent from the floor, made 30.3 percent of their 3-point shots and shot 73 percent from the free throw line.

Hampton's Jermaine Marrow led all scorers with 29 points while Tren
t-Steet added 28.

The Pirates, who won the rebounding battle, 46 to 40, shot 52.6 percent from the field, 38.1 percent from beyond the arc and 61.0 percent from the free throw line.

BOX SCORE

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