SAVANNAH, Ga. – After playing to three overtimes late Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats drove across Georgia and put up a Monday night fight. Fort Valley State started strong but ran out of gas against Savannah State, 68-52, in men's basketball action.

An early Jaylen Jackson triple gave FVSU a 6-1 start and pairs of Sayerr Senghore and Marcus Scott free throws pulled the team within two points later in the first half, 22-20 at 2:56 25-23 at 56 seconds. Savannah State, though, netted the final three tallies of the first half and the first eight of the second for a 13-point margin, 36-23, and never led the visitors closer than eight points over the final 14 minutes of play.

Despite the loss, the Wildcats (11-16/10-10 SIAC East) split the season series with the Tigers (13-11/11-9 SIAC East). FVSU took the Jan. 13 matchup in Fort Valley by a 58-54 final.

FVSU connected on only 16 field goals of 50 attempts (32%) and committed an usually high 23 turnovers.

Jackson finished as the lone double-figure scorer with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to go with four assists.

Senghore made three of his four field goals with a trey for nine points along with 11 rebounds and four steals. Scott downed 6 of 8 free throws for nine points. Hassane Diallo added eight points and three boards.

Khirus Doucet chipped in a 3-pointer and four points with two assists and two rebounds. Micah Glover contributed five free throws, while Antonio Pelham downed a trey. Mike Robinson and Demetrius Paul had two points each and two assists and four rebounds.

Ayjay Plain led all players with 16 points for Savannah State.

FVSU stays on the road for the regular season finale at Edward Waters on Wednesday night, Feb. 26. Tip will be at approximately 7:30 p.m.

-Wildcats-