Bryant, Carter lead South Carolina over Georgia 80-68

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) – Keyshawn Bryant scored 22 points, Devin Carter added 21 and South Carolina defeated Georgia 80-68 on Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak.
 
Bryant and Carter combined to shoot 16 of 24 with five 3-pointers for the Gamecocks (14-10, 5-7 Southeastern Conference). James Reese V added 10 points and six assists.
 
Kario Oquendo scored 18 points, Braelen Bridges added 16, Jabri Abdur-Rahim 12 and Aaron Cook 11 with six assists for Georgia (6-19, 1-11), which lost its fifth straight.
 
South Carolina swept the season series and has won 12 straight against the Bulldogs.
 
In their first meeting this season on Jan. 22, the Gamecocks won 83-66 after rallying from a double-digit, first-half deficit. This time, they erased an eight-point, first-half hole with a 20-0 run on 7-of-10 shooting while Georgia went 0 of 6 with four turnovers.
 
Georgia closed the gap to 42-38 by halftime and had a lead that lasted nine seconds early in the second half before the Gamecocks went in front for good on a Bryant bucket. A Carter 3-pointer made it 76-66 with just under four minutes left and the lead stayed in double figures.
 
South Carolina, which leads the SEC with 13.6 offensive rebounds per game, was plus-5 in that category and outscored Georgia 18-6 on second-chance points. The Gamecocks won the overall rebounding battle 41-27. They shot 52%, 10% better than the Bulldogs.
 
South Carolina is at Ole Miss on Tuesday. Georgia is at LSU on Wednesday.

KEY STATS
> The Gamecocks had two players with 20 or more points. Keyshawn Bryant scored 22 and Devin Carter scored 21 for Carolina.
> Carolina dominated the glass, beating Georgia in the rebound category 41-27.
> Carolina’s bench players scored 26 points and outscored the Bulldogs’ bench by 12. 
> The Gamecocks went on a 20-0 run from the 11:18 mark of the first half until the 5:57 mark in the first half to take a double-digit lead.
> The Carolina defense locked Georgia down the stretch. The Gamecocks did not allow a made field goal in the final 4:17 of the game.

NOTABLES
> Keyshawn Bryant’s 22 points earned him his second cconsecutive performance with 18 points or more.
> Bryant knocked down three shots from 3-point range, which marked a new career high in triples made.
> Devin Carter was just one point shy of his career high in points of 22. He put up 22 points on Dec. 22 against Army.
> South Carolina had 21 assists on Saturday, marking their highest assist total as a team against a Division I opponent this season. The Gamecocks dished 31 assists against Allen on Dec. 14.

UP NEXT
> South Carolina travels to Oxford for a Tuesday night matchup at Ole Miss (12-12, 3-8 SEC). Tipoff at The Pavilion is set for 7 p.m. (ET) on ESPNU. Kevin Fitzgerald (pxp) will be on the call remotely with an analyst TBD.

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