Men's Basketball . January 26, 2019

South Carolina Comes Up Shy at Oklahoma State, 74-70

by By: JOHN TRANCHINA (Associated Press)

Chris Silva led the Gamecocks with 15 points and nine rebounds

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Thomas Dziagwa matched a career high with 19 points, shooting 5-of 9-from 3-point range, to help lead Oklahoma State to a 74-70 victory over South Carolina in the SEC/Big 12 Challege on Saturday afternoon.

In a close battle that saw 14 lead changes in the second half alone, the Cowboys outscored the Gamecocks 12-7 over the last 5 1/2 minutes to secure the win.

Lindy Waters III had 17 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Cam McGriff scored 14 for Oklahoma State (9-11), which snapped a three-game losing streak.

Chris Silva contributed 15 points and nine rebounds and A.J. Lawson scored 12 for South Carolina (10-9), which lost for just the second time in its last eight contests.

It was a nice reversal for Oklahoma State, which was outscored 10-0 in the final five minutes of its 70-61 loss to Oklahoma on Wednesday.

This time, South Carolina went up 63-62 with 5:36 remaining on Silva’s 10-foot jump shot, but a 12-4 run over the next five-plus minutes gave the Cowboys the victory. Waters made a key layup with 20 seconds to go to make it 72-67, and then sank two free throws with 5.6 seconds on the clock to seal it.

KEY STAT
> South Carolina had just nine attempts at the free throw line. Oklahoma State went 23-for-29 (79%) at the charity stripe.
> The Gamecocks were just 1-for-7 from the field down the stretch.

NOTABLES
> Senior Chris Silva led Carolina with 15 points. He finished just shy of notching his 21^st career double-double with nine rebounds.
> Silva has now scored in double-figures in 10 of the Gamecocks’ last 13 games. Today marked his 67^th career game scoring 10 or more.
> Freshmen A.J. Lawson (12) and Keyshawn Bryant (10) were also in double figures.
> Bryant had five assists for the second-straight game, matching his career high.

UP NEXT
Carolina has a quick turnaround as it returns to SEC play Tuesday night against top-ranked Tennessee (17-1, 6-0 SEC). Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network with Tom Hart (pxp) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) on the call.