Gamecocks Fall to Tide, 59-51

TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – Despite a career game from junior post Laimonas Chatkevicius, the South Carolina men’s basketball team dropped a 59-51 decision on the road at Alabama (17-11, 7-8 SEC) Tuesday night. Chatkevicius and Duane Notice combined for 34 of the team’s points, 27 coming in the second half alone. With the loss, the Gamecocks fall to 13-14 (4-11 SEC), the first time all season that they’ve had a sub-.500 record. The Gamecocks would never trail in the first half after Tyrone Johnson opened the game’s scoring with 3s on back-to-back possessions. After earning the win at home in the first meeting on the strength of its rebounding, the formula would again be an early factor. Seven of the team’s first ten points came on second-chances created from offensive rebounds, and the Gamecocks went into halftime with a 13-2 advantage in second-chance points. Carolina built a 10-3 lead through the first three minutes of action, but hit a scoring snap of 4:31 minutes that helped the Tide creep back in. Boosted by Levi Randolph’s 10 points in the half, the home side would fight back to tie the game at 20 with 1:52 to play and went to halftime tied at 22. A seven-rebound advantage in the first half negated a sizable shooting advantage for Alabama, who out-shot Carolina 47 percent to 36 overall and 37 percent to 16 percent from 3. Notice sparked the offense out of the break, accounting for the team’s first three baskets of the second half. He hit three-straight 3-pointers, with his third giving the Gamecocks a 31-28 lead with 16:19 to play. After that 3, the Crimson Tide went on an 13-2 run over the next 3:24 to take its first lead of the game, punctuated by back-to-back 3-pointers from Rodney Cooper and Retin Obasohan. The inside-outside combination of Chatkevicius and Notice would keep the Gamecocks alive despite the big run, with the duo combining for every point through the first 15 minutes of the second half. After Alabama took its biggest lead of the night, 41-33, the duo brought the team all the way back to a 44-all tie with 8:30 to go. A 3-pointer in transition from Michael Carrera with five minutes to play cut Alabama’s lead to one, 50-49, but the Tide was able to answer every basket to maintain the lead. For the entire second half, the Gamecocks would make ten field goals, and Alabama scored on the following possession seven times to stifle any chance at a game-changing run. After tying the game again at 46, a 10-3 run for Alabama gave it the lead for good. Carolina would finish with just two baskets on its final 11 attempts, while the Tide relied on seven free throws in the final two minutes to maintain a comfortable lead.