Thomas, Watford rally LSU past South Carolina 85-80

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Cameron Thomas scored 25 points, Trendon Watford had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and LSU rallied to beat South Carolina 85-80 on Saturday night.

The Tigers (10-2, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) trailed for nearly 34 minutes of game time but went on a 20-4 run during the final eight minutes with Thomas scoring the last six points to make it 84-76 with 34 seconds left. The Gamecocks (3-3, 1-1) missed 11 straight shots from the field while the game slipped away.

Javonte Smart added 15 points and Darius Days scored 11 for LSU.

Keyshawn Bryant had 26 points and seven rebounds, and AJ Lawson had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists, scoring 18 in the first half for South Carolina. Wildens Leveque and Justin Minaya added 12 points each, Minaya with 10 rebounds and Leveque with eight.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, South Carolina coach Frank Martin, assistant coach Chuck Martin, and Doug Edwards, who handles student-athlete development, were not in attendance. Assistant coach Bruce Shingler made his head coaching debut as the acting coach.

South Carolina has had eight games cancelled or postponed this season.

KEY STATS
> The Gamecocks were shooting the ball above a 50 percent clip for most of the game, but didn’t make a field goal the final 7:47 of regulation.
> LSU was 24-of-32 at the free throw line tonight (Carolina 10-of-14).

NOTABLES
> Junior Keyshawn Bryant returned to action for the first time since a road contest at No. 10 Houston (12/5) and scored a career-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He also pulled down seven rebounds. It marks Bryant’s third career 20-point game.
> Junior AJ Lawson finished with 22 points, five rebounds and five assists. It marks his third straight contest with 20 or more points.
> Redshirt junior Justin Minaya and sophomore Wildens Leveque each finished in double figures with 12 points apiece. Minaya also had 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

UP NEXT
South Carolina remains on the road as it travels to face Missouri (8-2, 2-2 SEC) on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. ET tip on the SEC Network.

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