South Carolina 81, Mississippi State 68: Tyrone Johnson scored a career-high 28 points as the Gamecocks turned away the visiting Bulldogs in a battle for SEC positioning.

Laimonas Chatkevicius matched his season high with 18 points and added nine rebounds for South Carolina (14-14, 5-11 SEC), which pulled even for 11th place in the conference, one game behind 10th-place Tennessee. Duane Notice contributed 13 points for the Gamecocks.

Craig Sword scored 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting and grabbed eight boards to lead Mississippi (12-17, 5-11). Gavin Ware scored 10 points for the Bulldogs, who have dropped four in a row and six of seven.

Notice knocked down a 3-pointer to give South Carolina a 25-15 lead with just over 7 1/2 minutes left in the first half and connected again from beyond the arc to send the Gamecocks into the break up 39-31. The Bulldogs shot 59.1 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes but went 2-of-8 from the free-throw line.

I.J. Ready split a pair at the line to pull Mississippi State within 43-38 with over 17 minutes left, but Chatkevicius scored seven during a 9-0 burst to spread it back out. Johnson’s free throws made it a 59-41 gap with 12 1/2 minutes to play and the Bulldogs had a late run fall short.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Gamecocks entered last in the SEC in field-goal percentage at 39.9 but shot 46.3 percent against the Bulldogs. … The teams are tied for 11th place and need to jump to 10th to avoid having to play on the first day of the SEC tournament. … South Carolina went 23-of-34 from the line while Mississippi State finished 19-of-29.