With South Carolina’s lead disappearing and the clock showing under two minutes left in the game, Sindarius Thornwell drove left. His defender cut him off, forcing Thornwell to spin back to the middle of the court and hoist a floater in the lane. The shot fell through the net, deflating the home crowd and giving South Carolina the basket it needed to seal an eventual 67-61 victory over Georgia in their first SEC game.
Thornwell, coming off a six-game suspension, scored 19 points on the night. He also recorded 11 rebounds and scored four of South Carolina’s final seven points as Georgia furiously tried to take the lead back in what was a close game all night.
The first half saw 11 ties and 13 lead changes, as neither team seemed able to take a firm hold of the game. South Carolina was led by PJ Dozier and Chris Silva in the first half, who scored 24 of the team's 36 points. Georgia struggled all night with turnovers and was able to take advantage of South Carolina’s aggressive defense by getting to the foul line 14 times in the first half alone. South Carolina went into the half leading 36-34 after Dozier hit a three at the buzzer.
As the second half began, South Carolina was able to take control of the game behind the scoring of Dozier and Thornwell. The Gamecocks were able to push the lead out to as many as nine points at the 12:58 mark of the second half, yet were unable to ever blow the game open or stretch their lead to double-digits.
With 2:29 left in the game, Georgia was able to cut the South Carolina lead to three points. The home crowd started getting into the game, only to be deflated seconds later after an offensive rebound by the Gamecocks that was converted into points by Thornwell on his floater in the lane. The Bulldogs would make one last gasp on an ensuing three by Frazier to cut the lead to one, but would be answered once again by an offensive rebound and basket by Thornwell that put to rest the Georgia comeback once and for all.
Dozier was the game's top scorer on the night, scoring 24 points on just 17 shots and also grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out five assists. This was the ninth straight game in which Dozier scored 13 or more points for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina returns to action Saturday afternoon at home versus Texas A&M as the Gamecocks look to start the season 2-0 in conference play.