Elijah Strong delivered in a big way, racking up 22 points, including 20 in the second half, and led South Carolina past Charleston Southern 74-62 on Friday afternoon in Columbia, SC.
Kobe Knox poured in 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and Nordin Kapic added 11 for the Gamecocks (5-2), who snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 5-0 at home.
The Buccaneers (5-4) saw their three-game win streak end despite a 23-point performance from Brycen Blaine. A’lahn Sumler and Jesse Hafemeister scored 14 and 10, respectively.
Going into the locker room with a 30-28 lead, South Carolina didn’t make a shot from the field for more than six minutes early in the second half and found itself down 40-39 with 13:15 to go after Blaine buried his third 3-pointer of the day.
Knox threw down a dunk to put the Gamecocks back in front 43-41 with 12:07 left, sparking a 7-0 run, capped by Strong’s shot from distance less than two minutes later as South Carolina extended its lead to 48-41.
The Gamecocks’ advantage was double digits at the 7:29 mark as two free throws by Mike Sharavjamts made the score 55-45.
Kapic fueled an early 7-0 run for South Carolina, hitting a 3-pointer and making a layup as the Gamecocks surged in front 11-4 with 15:28 to go in the opening half.
The Buccaneers responded with a 10-0 spurt that pulled them within 20-19 with 7:05 left in the half after Blaine knocked down a 3-pointer.
Blaine gave the Buccaneers their first lead at 21-20 less than a minute later, scoring on a layup and they were up 26-24 with 3:39 left on a jumper by Hafemeister.
But the Gamecocks got the lead back at 29-28 on a 3-pointer by Eli Ellis at the 2:12 mark, and held the Buccaneers scoreless over the final 2:31 of the half.
Leading the nation in 3-pointers made (109) entering the night, Charleston Southern struggled in the first half from long range, going just 3 of 14. South Carolina shot 3 of 13 from deep in the half.
The Buccaneers finished the day shooting 22.6% (7 of 31) from beyond the arc, well below their season average of 37.6%, which is just outside the top 50 in the country.
