Gamecocks Beat Bulldogs In Athens 64-58

ATHENS, GA. (USC SID) — It would need all 40 minutes, but South Carolina would exorcise its road woes with a win at Georgia Tuesday night. After running out to a big halftime lead, the Gamecocks steeled themselves and held off a rally to secure a 64-58 win. It is the team’s first true road win since Dec. 1, and moves them to 13-12 overall and 4-9 in the SEC. Georgia drops to 16-9, 7-6. The Gamecocks played with abandon in the first half, using a multi-faceted offense to keep the Bulldogs off-balance. With the score tied at four apiece four minutes in, Carolina broke the game open with a 15-0 run over a six-minute stretch. Duane Notice and Tyrone Johnson combined for 13 of those points on their own, scoring eight and five, respectively. The lead would grow as large as 21, and a late offensive spurt from the Bulldogs would be countered easily by Carolina. Georgia would hit make four of its final seven attempts from the field, but the visitors went 9-of-12 over the final 11:41 to take the comeback attempt in stride. After scoring just 43 points for the game against No. 1 Kentucky just three days earlier, the Gamecocks would go into halftime with a 41-23 lead. They would shoot 58 percent from the field while holding the home side to just 33 percent. Notice would lead the team with 12 points, and Johnson added 11 in the first half. The last time Johnson scored 11 points or more in a game came exactly one month ago at Auburn. The senior guard hit on three of his four 3-point attempts, and the Gamecocks as a team would finish the half 7-of-13 from deep. It would be Georgia that came out firing in the second half, forcing a Carolina timeout after opening the half on a 10-2 run. The three-point shooting that padded the first-half lead would fall away in the second half, as the Gamecocks went 0-of-6 through the first 13 minutes. A scoring drought from the 9:55 mark until 3:38 to play allowed Georgia to come all the way back and tie the game for the first time since the first minute of the game, capping a 10-0 run. A major factor behind the comeback was the absence of Sindarius Thornwell. The combo guard picked up his fourth of the game with 12:49 to go, and in his absence the team was outscored 12-2 before he returned with four minutes to play. For the game, the team was +13 in points while he was on the court. Though the Bulldogs would draw even with 4:31 to play, it would never take the lead. Thornwell would re-enter the game, and the Gamecocks went on a 7-2 run after the tie to go up by five with two minutes to play, 58-53. Carolina started the second half 0-of-8 from 3 but hit two when it mattered most, both coming in the final three minutes. The first was by Johnson, who was the benefactor of a Mindaugas Kacinas offensive rebound and hit a 3 to make it a 56-51 game. Then, with the home side threatening to tie it up again, Duane Notice hit a dagger to put the team up 61-55 with just over a minute left. Free throws from Kacinas and Johnson in the final 30 seconds helped seal the win, as did Georgia’s 1-of-4 performance at the charity stripe in the same span.