SAVANNAH, Ga.- Preston Blackmon scored 16 points to lift Savannah State to a season opening 61-33 victory over Brewton-Parker in Tiger Arena.

The crowd of 2,172 saw the Tigers open the season with a victory for the sixth consecutive year under head coach Horace Broadnax.

With the game knotted at 5, the Tigers went on a 15-4 run to grab a 20-9 lead with 4:51 on the clock.

BPC was able to cut their deficit back to five points with three minutes left but a free throw by Jovonni Shuler and a jumper by Blackmon pushed SSU to a 25-17 halftime edge.

A 3-pointer by Stefan Frank pulled the Barons within 25-20 to open the second half but SSU replied with a 15-2 run to go ahead by 18 with 15:08 remaining.

A 14-5 spurt gave SSU a 56-29 lead with 3:41 remaining.

Joshua Montgomery added 12 points and 6 rebounds for SSU. Jyles Smith and Chris Spears each scored 8 points and Smith grabbed a game-high 8 rebounds.

Andrew Dikas led BPC (0-1) with 11 points.

SSU won the rebounding battle 37 to 22 and out-shot Brewton-Parker from the floor 46.7 percent to 27.7 percent.