May, Delaware St. beat Savannah St., advance in MEAC tourney

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) Amere May scored 26, including a late pair of free throws, to help No. 5 seed Delaware State beat 12th-seeded Savannah State 64-58 in the opening round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament on Monday night.

Tyshawn Bell scored 14 and Kendall Gray had 12 rebounds and four blocked shots for Delaware State (16-16), which will face No. 4 seed Howard in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Todd Hughes added 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting

Alante Fenner sandwiched a pair of layups around a 3-pointer by Javaris Jenkins to pull Savannah State (9-22) within one with 44 seconds to go.

Hughes made a layup on the other end before Terel Hall answered with a layup high off the glass and the Tigers trailed 59-58 with 27 seconds remaining.

Delaware State made 5 of 6 free throws from there to seal it.

Fenner led Savannah State with 15 points.

Senior point guard Kendal Williams, Delaware State's assist leader (3.0 per game), suffered an ankle injury early in the game and his availability moving forward is in doubt.