Box Score DURHAM, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com) – The first tilt in the final homestand of the 2011-12 season began with loads of promise but ended in disappointment as North Carolina Central University dropped a 67-57 contest to the Tigers of Savannah State University on Saturday afternoon in McDougald-McLendon Gym.
 
The loss drops the Eagles to 6-5 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play and into a tie with arch-rival North Carolina A&T State University for sixth place in the league.
 
NCCU got off to a slow start offensively missing the first four layups of the contest.  The Eagles did not register a field goal until the 16:18 mark of the first frame when senior Nick Chasten (Raleigh, N.C.) hit a layup to make it 7-3 in favor of SSU.
 
With 12:20 left in the first half, the Tigers grabbed its largest lead of the frame at 15-5 following an Arnold Louis dunk forcing head coach LeVelle Moton to call a 30-second timeout to try and change the momentum.
 
As this resilient team always does, the maroon and gray responded as they slowly but surely settled down outscoring Savannah State 20-10 over a ten-minute span to knot the game up at 25 on a Jeremy Ingram (Charlotte, N.C.) jumper with 2:29 remaining.
 
Seconds later, senior Dominique Sutton (Durham, N.C.) was whistled for his second foul, sending him to the bench, which allowed SSU to end the half on a 5-2 spurt and take a 30-27 lead and the momentum into the locker room.
 
The Eagles were fortunate to be down only three at the intermission after 10 first half turnovers, only connecting on eight field goals, and being outrebounded 17-9.
 
The second half saw the Tigers continue to impose its will on the Eagles pushing the margin back out to 10 at 41-31 with 14:40 to go.  Five of those early second half points came from leading scorer Rashad Hassan who started the frame with a dunk and a three-pointer to give SSU the energy it needed.
 
NCCU responded with a 9-4 rally highlighted by an Emanuel Chapman three-pointer as the Eagles cut the deficit in half at 45-40 forcing Savannah State to take a 30-second timeout as well to shift the momentum back in their favor.
 
The Tigers answered the challenge put forth extending the lead back out to double figures at 52-42 on Louis’s fifth three-pointer of the season with 9:00 to go.
From that point on, SSU kept the lead at or around the nine-point mark as the Eagles could never recover falling in the contest 67-57.
 
Ray Willis (Atlanta, Ga.) managed to take just six shots on the day but still found a way to reach double figures with 14 points going 6-for-6 from the foul line, while Dominique Sutton finished just 3-for-8 from the field and ended up with 12 points and seven rebounds in the loss.
 
As a team, the Eagles did extend their streak of at least one three-pointer in a game to 185 contests, but the maroon and gray were a dismal 2-for-12 (16.7 percent) from the outside. 
 
After a near flawless effort from the charity stripe against Bethune-Cookman on Monday night, NCCU was just 19-for-26 (73.1 percent) from the line.
 
Savannah State (15-10 overall, 8-2 MEAC) sits by themselves in second place in the league just a full-game behind Norfolk State who is currently 10-2 in conference play.  The Tigers were led by leading scorer Hassan who ended the game with 17 points as did teammate Preston Blackmon. 
 
SSU outscored NCCU 34-28 in the paint and recorded a 14-3 advantage in second chance points in the seventh straight win for the Tigers.
 
The Eagles (12-12 overall, 6-5 MEAC) will get back to action for “Senior Night” against the Bulldogs of South Carolina State University 30-minutes after the women’s contest on Monday, Feb. 13 at McDougald-McLendon Gym.
 
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