Sophomore guard Jermaine Couisnard tied a career high with 16 points and sophomore forward Keyshawn Bryant chipped in 13 in his season debut as South Carolina's bench paced it to an 84-80 win at Massachusetts on Wednesday night in Amherst, Mass.

The Gamecocks got 42 points from its reserves, with Couisnard making 7 of 11 shots while also dishing out six assists. Bryant, who had knee surgery on Oct. 31, was 5 of 9 from the field, and scored five points in a 33-second span late in the second half.

South Carolina (6-3) led 39-35 at halftime after trailing by as many as nine early, the product of six turnovers in the game's first five minutes. The Gamecocks trailed 19-10 before going on a 10-0 run to lead 20-19 with 6:37 to go before the break.

Breaking the press enabled Carolina to get back in it, while its zone defense slowed UMass (5-4) down after it started 3 of 5 from three-point range.

An alley-oop dunk and foul by sophomore forward Sy Chatman put UMass in the double bonus for the final 10 minutes, but South Carolina was able to build a 64-61 lead with 7:58 left thanks to its transition game. The Gamecocks had 22 fast-break points to 11 for UMass as they shot 55 percent and had a 52-22 edge in points in the paint.

Back-to-back buckets by Bryant put Carolina up 75-66, then A.J. Lawson hit a 3 to extend to a 78-67 lead. Lawson had a team high 24 for the Gamecocks, making 8 of 13 shots, and his two free throws with 6.2 seconds left iced the game after UMass hit a pair of 3s in the final 23 seconds to get within 82-80.

It was the first true road game for South Carolina, which went 4-8 on the road last season and had lost its last four nonconference road games.

UMass, which dropped its fourth straight after a 5-0 start, got 17 points from freshman center Tre Mitchell and 16 from freshman guard Sean East II.

--Field Level Media