Jan. 21, 2012

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

AUBURN, Ala. -The South Carolina men’s basketball team suffered a 63-52 loss at Auburn on Saturday in SEC action. South Carolina falls to 8-10, 0-4 SEC, while Auburn improves to 12-7, 2-3 in conference play.

Freshman forward Anthony Gill and sophomore guard Bruce Ellington led the Gamecocks with nine points each, while sophomore forward Damontre Harris contributed six points, a team high seven rebounds and a career high six blocks.

The Gamecocks shot 40.8 percent overall in the game, hitting 20-of-49 attempts, while Auburn hit 44 percent (22-50) of its attempts. Junior guard Frankie Sullivan led the Tigers with a game high 22 points, while senior forward Kenny Gabriel added 16 and four blocks.

Turnovers plagued the Gamecocks in the contest, as the squad committed 23 against just 14 by Auburn. The Tigers scored 28 points off of turnovers in the contest.

South Carolina was down 6-2 early in the opening half, but battled back with just under 11 minutes remaining before halftime to take a14-12 lead on a 3 by freshman guard Damien Leonard. The team’s traded baskets through the middle part of the set, before the Gamecocks extended their lead to 26-21 on a layup by Ellington with 1:37 remaining.

Sullivan sank a 3 with 21 seconds remaining before half, but RJ Slawson answered for South Carolina on the opposite end, hitting a jumper as time expired to send Carolina into the locker room with a 28-24 advantage at the half.

Sullivan hit two free throws to open the second half, before South Carolina freshman forward Anthony Gill, who played just eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, followed with a layup to push the score to 30-26 South Carolina with 18:54 remaining.

Gabriel scored the next six Auburn points over the next four minutes, as the Tigers regained the lead at 32-30 with 15:42 on the clock. Auburn would never give up the lead the remainder of the half and the Tigers outscored the Gamecocks 39-24 in the set to close the 63-52 victory.

South Carolina returns to Colonial Life Arena to host Alabama on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. The contest will be televised on the SEC Network.