National Basketball Association
South Carolina 74, Mississippi St. 62
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 8, 2014
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Mississippi
Officials:
# James Barker, # Joe Lindsay, # Jeff Smith
Attendance:
6105
By SportsDirect Inc.
South Carolina 74, Mississippi State 62: Brenton Williams scored a game-high 27 points, including seven 3-pointers, as the visiting Gamecocks heaped more misery on the Bulldogs.
Sindarius Thornwell added 22 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for South Carolina (12-19, 5-13 SEC), which snapped an 18-game road losing streak dating back to last season. Mindaugas Kacinas chipped in with 13 points to go along with nine rebounds while Williams recorded a game-high four steals for the Gamecocks, who finished 10-of-20 from 3-point land.
Craig Sword scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed six rebounds for Mississippi State (13-18, 3-15), which has lost 13 games in a row. Fred Thomas scored 15 points off the bench while Gavin Ware secured eight boards for the Bulldogs, who were outrebounded 46-27.
Thornwell scored seven early points to put South Carolina on top 16-4 and the Gamecocks forced 12 turnovers in the first half to settle for a 36-29 edge at the break. Mississippi State began the second stanza on an 11-0 run to take its first lead of the game at 40-36 and the Bulldogs later extended their advantage to eight after Sword's jumper.
Williams hit five 3-pointers during a 22-4 burst to put the Gamecocks back in front by 10 before Colin Borchert made a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to four with under five minutes remaining. Williams keyed a 12-4 spurt to close out the game as South Carolina ended the regular season on a high note.
GAME NOTEBOOK: South Carolina coach Frank Martin was serving a suspension for a verbal tirade directed at his players in Tuesday's loss to Florida and assistant Matt Figger served as coach. … Mississippi State finished 3-of-11 from beyond the 3-point arc after going 0-for-15 in Wednesday's loss against Georgia. … The Gamecocks secured their first road win of the season despite finishing 8-of-16 from the free-throw line.
Top Game Performances
South Carolina |
|
Mississippi St. |
Brenton Williams 27 |
Scoring |
Craig Sword 19 |
Sindarius Thornwell 4 |
Assists |
Craig Sword 5 |
Sindarius Thornwell 11 |
Rebounds |
Gavin Ware 8 |
Brenton Williams 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Craig Sword 5 |
Brenton Williams 4 |
Steals |
Fred Thomas 3 |
Michael Carrera 1 |
Blocks |
Colin Borchert 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
South Carolina
|
74 |
43.8 |
10-20 |
8-16 |
12 |
42 |
3 |
10 |
15 |
Mississippi St.
|
62 |
42.9 |
3-11 |
17-25 |
10 |
25 |
2 |
9 |
14 |