Mack and Johnson lead South Carolina over Charleston Southern 73-69

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – B.J. Mack scored 16 points, Meechie Johnson added 15 and South Carolina pulled away late to beat Charleston Southern 73-69 on Saturday night.

Collin Murray-Boyles‘ dunk with 9:34 left gave South Carolina the lead for good at 55-53. Johnson scored seven points during a 9-2 surge that stretched the Gamecocks’ lead to 70-62 with 1:39 to play. It was their largest lead of the game.

Mack and Johnson were a combined 11-of-30 from the field and each made a pair of 3-pointers. Ta’Lon Cooper added nine points, five rebounds and three assists for South Carolina (9-1), which shot 65% (17 of 26) in the first half but just 32% (12 of 37) in the second.

Taje’ Kelly scored 22 points on 11-of-17 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Charleston Southern (3-7). A’lahn Sumler added 15 points and DJ Patrick and RJ Johnson each had 13.

Mack scored 10 points and Johnson had six in the first half to help South Carolina take a 39-36 lead into the break. Kelly scored 16 first-half points on 8-of-11 shooting for the Buccaneers.

South Carolina hosts Winthrop on Tuesday. Charleston Southern plays at Loyola Chicago on Tuesday. 

KEY STAT

• South Carolina offered free concessions for fans and today’s men’s and women’s games. Combined at both games, 7,000 hot dogs, 6,000 popcorns and 8,500 soft drinks were given away.

NOTABLES

• Graduate forward B.J. Mack led South Carolina with 16 points on 50.0 percent shooting (7-for-14). It marked Mack’s ninth double-figure scoring game of the season and the 70^th of his career.
• Junior guard Meechie Johnson added 15 points and led the Gamecocks with six rebounds. It is Johnson’s fourth game this season leading Carolina in rebounding. Over his last five games, Johnson is averaging 21.8 points per game, shooting at a 49.3 percent clip (35-for-71).
• Freshman guard Morris Ugusuk led Carolina with a career-high five assists and no turnovers. It is his first career game leading the Gamecocks in helpers.
• The Gamecock bench provided huge minutes outscoring the Buccaneers’ reserves, 24-6. Redshirt senior forward Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk scored six points and grabbed four rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench for the Garnet and Black.
• Carolina committed just six turnovers, their second fewest in a game this season. The Gamecocks have committed single digit turnovers in six of their 10 games this year. The team is 8-2 under Paris when committing single digit turnovers the last two seasons.
• The victory marks the eighth 9-1 start in program history (1933-34, 1944-45, 1969-70, 1970-71, 2003-04, 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2023-24).
• The win also marks the team’s first six-game home win streak since last season in non-conference action.

UP NEXT

Carolina (9-1) remains home with another Big South opponent coming to town in Winthrop (8-3) on Tuesday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. (ET) with Dave Weinstein and John Williams on the call for the SEC Network+ broadcast.

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