South Carolina Tops Men’s Basketball, 72-64

Columbia, S.C. – The Missouri men’s basketball team rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit but South Carolina prevailed in the end, 72-64, on Saturday afternoon.

Graduate Sean East II registered his seventh 20-point game of the season with 21 points to go with a game-best seven assists. Junior Tamar Bates added his 10th-straight contest with at least 10 points, scoring 16 points to go with a career-best seven rebounds.

An early 10-0 run gave the hosts the first-half advantage and put the Gamecocks (17-3, 5-2 SEC) ahead by 14, 24-10, just over 11 minutes into the contest. South Carolina made 9-of-12 shots after missing its first three attempts of the game, including four triples.

Mizzou (8-12, 0-7 SEC), however, would fight back and a 9-1 run pulled the Tigers within four, 30-26. South Carolina had another strong stretch to finish the first, though, and headed into the locker room with a 39-29 lead.

It wouldn’t take long for the Tigers to erase that deficit. Mizzou scored the first 11 points of the second half in just over three minutes of action for a 40-39 lead. Graduate Nick Honor connected on a fastbreak triple to pull MU within one before Bates added two more points on the break for the one-point edge.

The schools would battle for the next couple of minutes before South Carolina broke a 46-46 tie with a 7-0 run. The Tigers would only be as close as four the rest of the way, missing a pair of layups with under two minutes left to pull within a single possession, as South Carolina secured the 72-64 victory.

Missouri finished with a 47.1 field goal percentage but made just two of eight 3-point attempts. South Carolina, meanwhile, was held to 44.2 percent shooting but took advantage beyond the arc with a 10-of-25 clip.

UP NEXT
The Tigers return to Mizzou Arena to face rival Arkansas on Wednesday night. First tip on SEC Network is set for 7:30 p.m.