SAVANNAH, Ga., (WSAV) – The Savannah State men’s and women’s basketball teams were upset in the quarterfinal round of the SIAC Tournament held on March 2 at Tiger Arena on the campus of Savannah State University. Each team received a bye to the quarterfinal round because they finished second in the East standings. Each had a nine-day layoff.
Savannah State hosts the SIAC tournament for the first time in school history. However, the home court did not provide an advantage.
On the women’s side, Savannah State faced Edward Waters. Late in the fourth quarter, Savannah State needed to force overtime by getting a stop without fouling, but they were not able to achieve the goal. They committed a foul with three seconds left and sent Edward Waters to the line, where they made one of two free throws. The Lady Tigers had a shot to win the game with three seconds remaining after a missed free throw. However, they could not get a shot off in time. The Lady Tigers lost, 63-62.
“Our goal was to just play tough man-to-man defense and rebound the basketball and not put them on the line and allow them to win it on the line. But we had exhausted all timeouts.”
On the men’s side, Savannah State faced Benedict, a team ranked No. 1 seed in the East. However, due to compliance issues they were forced to vacate wins and fell to the sixth seed in the East.
The men got off to a slow start. They trailed 23-9 at one point in the first half. In the second half, Savannah State was able to close the gap, but was never able to tie the game or take the lead. The men lost, 78-68.
“I don’t worry about winning or losing,” head coach Horace Broadnax said. “I worry about are we going to do the things that lead to winning. In the first half, we didn’t do the things that led to winning. This guy was in a funk in the first half. I asked him, ‘Did your girlfriend leave you? What’s going on man?”
The season for the men’s and women’s teams ends with losses in the SIAC tournament.
