SAVANNAH, GA— Savannah State's Terel Hall's three-point play with one second to play gave Savannah State a 59-58 victory over Winthrop, Thursday evening at Tiger Arena.

The loss is the first of the season for the Eagles as they fall to 2-1 and will return home for their next two games starting with East Tennessee State on Monday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Winthrop Coliseum.

Winthrop's Andre Smith had two free throws with seven seconds to play for a three or four point advantage, but the career 77 percent free throw shooter couldn't get either to drop and Hall took advantage. Hall drove the lane and threw up a shot as he was fouled to tie the game and made the free throw, despite the Tigers being 4-for-11 at the line before Hall knocked his down.

"We said going in we really had to take care of the ball and limit our turnovers and we had 19 of them," said Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey. "A whole bunch of them were unforced and plays we typically make. You have to tip your cap to Savannah State, they found a way. The imposed their will and their style on us instead of vice versa. That's a credit to them, to their coach and to their players."

It looked as though the Eagles were in trouble with 2:42 to play as the Eagles defended the half court well for the duration of the shot clock, but as the last two seconds were winding down, Hall launched up a deep three that banked in for a 56-50 lead.

Winthrop then reeled off eight straight points for a 58-56 lead with 18 seconds to play in the game. Andre Smith hit a three-pointer to pull Winthrop within one point and then Josh Davenport took over the offensive glass and hit 3-of-4 at the line for a 58-56 lead. Off the inbound play for the Tigers, Winthrop got the defensive play it needed as Smith came up with the steal as he was fouled with seven seconds to play, but his two misses at the line allowed Savannah State the opportunity to tie the game or take the lead and Hall made a play.  

Winthrop had led 45-41 with 9:52 remaining but neither team scored for the next two minutes before the Tigers scored four points on back-to-back possessions to tie the game with 7:25 to play. An Alante Fenner lay-up inside put the Tigers back on top 47-45 but Moore came right back with a layup to tie the game. After Savannah State tied the game at 45-45 with 7:25 to play, the lead changed hands five times and the score was tied three times the rest of the way.

Moore finished with a game-high 20 points as he also had four rebounds, two assists and two steals. It was his second 20-point game of the season. Smith was the only other Eagle in double-figures with 12 points as he was 4-for-6 from three.

Winthrop shot just 38 percent from the floor, 33 percent from three and 52 percent from the foul line. Savannah State shot  54 percent in the second half to finish at 50 percent for the game and just 36 percent behind the arc and 42 percent at the foul line.

Winthrop raced out to a 6-0 lead behind three-pointers from Smith and Moore. The Tigers answered back with five straight points and then it was tied at 8-8 just shy of four minutes into the game.

From there the Tigers went on a 7-1 run for a 15-9 lead before Smith knocked down another three to cut the deficit to three points. Winthrop trailed for almost 10 straight minutes and by as much as six points with 8:55 to play in the half. At that point the Eagles went on 8-2 run that started when Smith found Duby Okeke inside for a dunk that was followed by two Moore baskets while Davenport's layup tied the game at 24-24 with 4:05 remaining.

The Eagles extended that run to 12-2 after Xavier Cooks scored inside and Derrick Henry knocked down two free throws. Henry had an opportunity for a six-point advantage with 34 seconds remaining but his lay-up attempt was blocked and Savannah State went to the other end of the court quickly for a lay-up from Fenner to cut the deficit to 28-26 instead of a six-point Winthrop lead. The Eagles had a chance to hold for the last shot of the half but Smith's pass sailed out of bounds for the team's 13^th turnover of the half. However, there were two seconds left on the clock and the Tigers didn't have enough time to get a good look as the Eagles led 28-26 at the break. Winthrop shot 39 percent from the floor and 30 percent from three in the first half.

Savannah State was led by Hall's 15 points while Saadiq Muhammed added 14 points and seven rebounds and Fenner had 11 points.

Winthrop had 13 steals and forced 22 turnovers in the game but committed 19 of its own. Davenport led all players with four steals while Moore and Tevin Prescott each had two.