FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. —
Savannah State saw its postseason come to an end Saturday afternoon following the Tigers’ 76-64 loss to Nova Southeastern in the first round of the NCAA DII South Regional.
The crowd in Rick Case Arena saw SSU hold the nation's No. 1 offense to just 76 points, their second-lowest scoring output of the season.
Nova Southeastern (31-1) entered the game ranked No. 2 in Division II and had the No. 1 seed in the South Regional, while SSU was the No. 8 seed.
Savannah State was down by eight early in the second half but used an 8-1 run to whittle NSU's lead to 45-44 with 15:10 left in the game. During the run, the Tigers received a layup from
Jeremiah Barze, a jumper from
Austin Lewis and back-to-back layups from
Javonte Landy.
The Sharks responded to SSU's rally with a 14-4 spurt that put them ahead by 11 with 11 minutes showing on the clock.
Savannah State's deficit grew to 69-55 with 4:46 left but a 10-2 run by SSU sliced their gap to single digits at 71-63 with 1:12 remaining.
Jordan Mikel started the rally with a layup, followed by a jumper from
Qua King and two free throws apiece from Barze and
Ayjay Plain.
Savannah State's final points came on a Landy free throw with 26 seconds left to make the score 73-64.
In a game that had only one tie and two lead changes, Nova Southeastern never trailed in the first period.
SSU trailed 28-22 with six and a half minutes remaining and was table to tie to tie the score at 29 following a layup by Barze with just over four minutes left. But the Sharks scored the next nine points to take a 38-29 lead before two free throws by Barze with 1:06 remaining that sent the teams into intermission with Nova Southeastern leading 38-31.
Lewis hit a 3-pointer to open the second half, pulling the Tigers within 38-34.
Savannah State ended the game with more second chance (16) and bench (16) points than the Sharks.
Nova Southeastern won the rebounding battle (46-44) and also had more free throw attempts. The Sharks shot 30 free throws while SSU only shot 14.
Landy had a game-high 18 points to go with his five rebounds and two assists while Barze added a dozen points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Plain had seven points and five rebounds, King had six points and four rebounds and Lewis chipped in five points.
Jerry Maxinaud,
Michael Swift and
Kasai Fontanez scored four points apiece while Mikel and
Jaydon Cousin both had two points.
Savannah State closed the regular season with four straight wins and then won four games in a row at the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament to win its first championship since the 2021-22 season.
Interim head coach
Clevan Thompson took over after the retirement of Horace Broadnax when the Tigers were 5-6 overall and 3-4 in conference play and guided them to 13 more victories as the Tigers finished 18-12 overall and 12-9 in the SIAC.
Saturday's contest was the final game in a SSU uniform for seniors King, Plain, Lewis, Maxinaud and Cousin.
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ABOUT THE SOUTHERN INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (SIAC)
The SIAC is a NCAA athletic conference consisting primarily of historically black colleges and universities with headquarters in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The SIAC includes 15 member institutions (Albany State University, Allen University, Benedict College, Central State University, Clark Atlanta University, Edward Waters University, Fort Valley State University, Kentucky State University, Lane College, LeMoyne-Owen College, Miles College, Morehouse College, Savannah State University, Spring Hill College, and Tuskegee University), which are located within a contiguous seven-state footprint (Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio). The SIAC sponsors nine men's and seven women's sports and is a proud member of the NCAA Division II. For more information, visit
www.thesiac.com.