Dec. 27, 2016

Final Stats | USATSI Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina (10-2) posted a 90-62 victory versus instate foe Lander (3-7) Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena. Freshman Rakym Felder led the team with a career-high 20 points after going 5-for-7 from the 3-point line.

The Bearcats scored the game’s first hoop, but Carolina went on an 11-0 run to take an 11-2 lead with 15:32 left in the opening half. Freshman Maik Kotsar had six of the team’s first 11 points.

The Gamecocks pushed the run to 19-0 after a pair of Notice free throws with 12:56 remaining. A jumper by freshman Sedee Keita improved the run to 29-1, as Carolina led 29-3 with 9:48 to go in the first half. The Gamecocks’ defense held Lander to 1-of-15 shooting in the first 10 minutes.

The Bearcats ended their 0-for-14 field goal draught, as Carolina was up 36-7 at the under eight media timeout. Felder hit back-to-back 3s to extend the lead to 50-14 with 1:49 on the clock. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native, then hit another 3 with 44 seconds left, as the Gamecocks led 53-16 at halftime.

Carolina shot 20-for-32 (63 percent) in the opening half, including 7-for-11 from 3. The Gamecocks held Lander to just 17 percent (5-for-30) shooting from the field and had a 25-14 edge in the rebound column. Felder led the way with 15 points, as he was 4-of-4 from behind the arc in the first half. Nine different players scored in half one for Carolina.

After the break, Felder hit his fifth 3-pointer with 12:19 to go in the game, as Carolina jumped out to its biggest lead of the night, 73-33.

Kotsar posted his first career double-double, snagging his 10th rebound and scoring his 10th point on the ensuing possession with 9:16 to go and the Gamecocks in control up 77-43.

South Carolina remained up by 30 the rest of the way, before a late Lander 3 with 18 seconds left in the game to make it 90-62.

PJ Dozier (15), Duane Notice (13) and Kotsar (10) joined Felder in double-figures. Chris Silva tied Kotsar for the team lead with 11 rebounds and Carolina tied a season-high with 18 assists on the night.

KEY STATS

The Gamecocks were on the plus side of the rebound margin for the first time in four games with a 45-33 advantage on the glass. Carolina pulled down 13 offensive rebounds and scored 16 second-chance points.

NOTABLE

• Sophomore guard PJ Dozier had his five-game streak of 20-plus points snapped Tuesday night as he finished with 15.
• Six Gamecocks played 20-plus minutes.
• Freshman forward Maik Kotsar recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
• Tonight’s win was Carolina’s 24th in its last 28 games at Colonial Life Arena.
• Senior guard Duane Notice, who tallied one 3-point field goal, is now tied for third all-time in program history with Devan Downey (2007-10) with 174 career made 3s.

UP NEXT

South Carolina concludes the non-conference portion of its regular season when it travels to face Memphis on Friday at the FedEx Forum. The meeting marks the 35th all-time between the two schools and the ninth road game in the series for Carolina. Richard Cross (pxp) and Mark Wise (analyst) will have the call for the 9 p.m. ET tip off on ESPNU.

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