SAVANNAH, Ga. – Tryoce Manassa had a game-high 28 points and Savannah State handed Morgan State its first conference loss, 74-61 on Saturday night.
 
The Bears (7-11) had its four-game winning streak snapped and falls to 4-1 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.  
 
Savannah State (7-12, 4-2) had a 13-2 run to build their first double-digit lead at 56-45 on Maricus Glenn's layup with 8:27 left. The Bears had a 5-1 spurt to get within 62-55 on free throws by Tiwian Kendley with 4:47 left.
 
Manassa answered with back-to-back jumpers to put the lead in double digits for good and Austin Dasent's layup with 3:02 left capped a 6-0 run at 68-55.
 
Senior forward Kyle Thomas hit a shot to tie the game at 43 at the 13:14 mark, but it was all downhill after that as the Tigers pulled away.
 
Kendley led the Bears with 17 points (8-10 FT), while Thomas added 16 points off the bench and Antonio Gillespie chipped in 12.
 
The Bears trailed by as many as 14 points (72-58).
 
Morgan State got off to a slow start and trailed 9-2 during the early going. The Bears had five turnovers in the opening minutes 5 before Kendley converted a 3-point play to get things jump-started for the Bears.
 
Manassa scored a layup to give the Tigers a 22-15 lead, but Morgan State responded by closing the half by outscoring the Tigers by a 19-8 margin.
 
Back-to-back baskets by sophomore Tyler Streeter, followed by a reverse layup by Thomas helped give the Bears a 34-30 halftime lead.

Morgan State will continue its road stretch when they face South Carolina State on Monday night in Orangeburg.

BEAR NOTE
Phillip Carr (19.2 ppg, 9.6 rpg) missed his second consecutive game due to injury

Savannah State held a 44-36 advantage on the glass

Todd Bozeman needs just one more victory to become Morgan State's all-time winningest coach. He has 166 wins which is tied with Nathaniel Frazier (166-121)