Late Surge Lifts SSU

November 24, 2007
SAVANNAH, Ga- With the score tied at 58 with 9:45 remaining, Savannah State put together a 15-3 run and went on to defeat NAIA opponent Emmanuel College 78-68 in Tiger Arena.

During the Tigers run, Lazarius Coleman scored five points and Chris Linton added four.

Trailing 75-63, Emmanuel's Jeremy Tate hit a 3-pointer that cut their deficit to nine but that would be as close as the Lions (3-2) would get the rest of the way.

Emmanuel led the entire first half and built a 12 point advantage twice. SSU only shot 27 percent from the floor in the first half but whittled away at the Lions lead with good free throw shooting. Savannah State made 15 of 17 free throw attempts in the first half and shot 71 percent for the game.

Down by 10, SSU used a 11-3 run to cut their deficit to 32-29 with 2:41 left in he first half and went into intermission down 37-34.

SSU took its first lead of the game on a Patrick Hardy layup early in the second half.

The second half had three ties and three lead changes.

Savannah State (4-4) had balanced scoring with Coleman and Linton tossing in 13 points apiece. Linton three steals and a game-high 10 rebounds. Anthony Jones added 12 points in 18 minutes while Joseph Flegler chipped in 11 points and three assists.

Tate led all scorers with 20 points and Jerron Stone scored 13 points for the Lions. Tate hit 6-of-10 three-point attempts. As a team, Emmanuel shot 45.5 percent from the floor and 54.2 percent from behind the arc. Free throws hurt the Lions as they went 5-for-14 from the charity stripe.

SSU out-rebounded Emmanuel 45 to 28.