Cambridge lifts No. 16 Auburn over South Carolina, 80-67

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Devan Cambridge scored 26 points, J’Von McCormick added 13 and No. 16 Auburn beat South Carolina 80-67 Wednesday night to stop a two-game skid.

The Tigers started off sluggish but ran away with it down the stretch due in large part to hot shooting off the bench.

Auburn (16-2, 4-2 SEC) had to lean on its role players after the starters went a combined 1 of 10 from the field out of the gate.

Auburn shot 46%, including 14 of 27 in the second half, and outscored South Carolina 38-16 in bench points. The Tigers also shot 86% from the free-throw line, finishing 18 of 21. Three Tigers finished in double figures with Samir Doughty adding 11.

South Carolina (10-8, 2-3) played without starting forward Keyshawn Bryant on the front line who was out with a head injury, but were only outrebounded by four.

The Gamecocks got out to an early lead when the Tigers came out cold from the field but quickly saw their lead vanish after a barrage of 3-pointers from Cambridge and Jamal Johnson just before halftime.

After a 7-0 run cut the Auburn lead to single digits out of the intermission, the Tigers used a 19-4 run to stretch their lead to 77-57 and put the Gamecocks all but away before the 7:00 mark. Auburn finished the game 10 of 27 from 3, and scored 16 points off of 12 South Carolina turnovers.

Jermaine Couisnard led the Gamecocks with 16 points and Justin Minaya added 14.

KEY STATS
> In a back-and-forth game with runs on both sides, Auburn took control with a 19-4 push to take a 77-57 lead with 7:14 to play. The Tigers opened the second half 14-of-22 (63.8%) from the field while on their big run.
> The Gamecocks shot it well overall but were just 6-of-21 (28.6%) from behind the arc.

NOTABLES
> Redshirt freshman guard Jermaine Couisnard logged his fourth straight SEC game in double figures leading the team with 16 points.
> Redshirt sophomore Justin Minaya followed up a career-best effort at Texas A&M with 14 points tonight against the Tigers. He was 6-of-12 from the field and also pulled down seven rebounds.
> Sophomore AJ Lawson (11) and redshirt junior Jair Bolden (10 – all in the second half) joined Couisnard and Minaya in double figures.
> For the second straight game, senior Maik Kotsar led Carolina in rebounds (8) and assists (5).

UP NEXT
After a two-game road swing, Carolina returns to Colonial Life Arena on Saturday to host Vanderbilt (8-9, 0-4 SEC) at 8 p.m. ET.  The matchup will be broadcast on the SEC Network with Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Joe Kleine (analyst) on the call.

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