Sam Muldrow led six players in double figures with 20 points to pace South Carolina to a 94-79 victory over visiting Elon in the season opener for both teams Carolina Friday night.

Malik Cooke and Lakeem Jackson both scored 13 points for the Gamecocks.

The Gamecocks trailed 3-0 on a 3-pointer by Elon’s Chris Long. South Carolina then went on a prolonged 22-3 run to take control of the game midway through the first half.

South Carolina, which as won 10 of its last 11 season openers led 43-26 at the half.

The young Gamecocks graduated high-scoring Devan Downey from last year’s team which went 15-16. Downey averaged 22.4 points and is playing professionally in Turkey.

South Carolina led by as much as 27 points in the second half but Elon cut it to 84-73 on a 3-pointer by Jack Isenbarger with 4:30 to go. They never got closer.

Isenbarger led the Phoenix with 19 points and Long added 14.

The Phoenix were 9-23 last season. They fell behind shooting just 28 percent from the field in the first half while the Gamecocks shot 52 percent in the game.