Dec. 21, 2011

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (5-6) coasted to a 62-43 victory over Southeastern Louisiana (5-5) Wednesday night in the final match before the Christmas holiday behind 14-point efforts from Malik Cooke and Anthony Gill.

Gill’s 14 points matched his career high on what was a balanced scoring night for the Gamecocks. Cooke added three assists, two blocks and a season high four steals to his 14 points in another solid outing for the lone senior.

It was a strong defensive outing for South Carolina with season best marks of 11 steals and 26 forced turnovers. The 43 points scored by Southeastern Louisiana was a season-low for the Lions, who never led in the contest.

Leading 14-13, South Carolina closed out the first half on an 11-0 run in a nine-minute span and increased the lead with another 11-0 run over a two-minute span to push the score to 38-19.

The Gamecocks pushed their lead to as many as 25 points to coast to the victory. The Lions never came closer than 12 points in the final 10 minutes of the game.

South Carolina will next hit the court in seven days when the team takes on Wofford on Dec. 28 at 7 p.m.