Albany, Georgia-Edward Waters was able to pick up some badly needed momentum to close the regular season with a key 72-72 road victory over Albany State in the regular season finale Monday evening at The Arena at West Campus.

Albany State (8-20, 8-13) built an early lead of as many as seven points in the early goings of the contest before Edward Waters (6-20, 5-16) fired back with a run of their own, ultimately leading by as many as 12 points at the midway point of the first half. ASU closed the gap to tie things at 32-32 with 3:43 remaining  and ultimately took a 39-36 advantage into the locker room.

Both teams traded opportunities with the lead early in the second half, but Edward Waters was able to surge ahead, leading 45-41 with 16:42 remaining in the contest. ASU tied the contest with 13:07 left in the game at 47-47, but the Tigers again took control to take a five point lead at 59-54 with 8:01 left. ASU took a two point lead at 68-66 with 3:15 remaining, but a Tavares Oliver three pointer with 2:28 remaining gave the Purple & Orange the lead right back at 69-68 with 2:25 left. A jumper from Larry Kuimi at the 1:57 remaining gave the Tigers a 71-68 lead with 1:57 left, but ASU responded with at three pointer to again tie the contest at 71-71 with 1:37 left. Tavares Oliver hit three critical free throws with :09 remaining to salt the contest away in favor of the Tigers.

EWU got it done from the floor, outshooting Albany State 48.3% to 43.5%, including a 45% to 33.3% edge in three point shooting. Tavares Oliver led the all scorers with 24 points off of the EWU bench on 8-of-15 shooting and was 5-of-9 from three point range. Larry Kuimi finished with 15 points and four boards, while Byron Abrams, Jonathan Kanyanga, and Adnan Hussein each had nine points for Edward Waters.

Edward Waters now heads to Savannah for their first appearance at the TIAA SIAC Basketball Championships presented by Cricket Wireless. Brackets for the single-elimination tournament will be released later this week. The action will begin on Saturday, February 25th at Tiger Arena on the campus of Savannah State University.

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