Bruce Ellington scored 20 points on 6-of-17 shooting to lead South Carolina to a 64-56 victory over Louisiana State in Baton Rouge on Wednesday.

Malik Cooke added 12 points off the bench for the Gamecocks (13-7, 4-3 SEC), who snapped a two-game slide to keep their slim hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth alive. They still have games against No. 24 Vanderbilt, No. 23 Florida, and No. 11 Kentucky left on the schedule to make an impression on the tournament committee.

South Carolina shot only 41 percent (9 of 22) from the floor in the first half but went 11 of 12 at the line and held the Tigers to 32 percent (8 of 25) to take a 31-27 edge into the break.

The Gamecocks came out of the locker room strong and pushed the lead to as much as 57-44 when Damontre Harris grabbed an offensive rebound and dunked it with 7:23 remaining. But a series of turnovers allowed LSU to chip away, using a 9-0 run to cut it to 57-53 at the 4:14 mark.

Ellington ended the drought with a jumper from the elbow less than a minute later and the Tigers would not make another field goal as South Carolina pulled away.

Andre Stringer scored 19 for LSU (10-12, 2-5).