Late Foul Shots Give LSU Win Over No. 11/11 South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Jordan Wright had 14 points including two free throws with five seconds left as LSU erased a 16-point second half deficit to beat No. 11 South Carolina 64-63 on Saturday.

The Tigers (13-12, 5-7 Southeastern Conference) trailed 41-25 after Zachary Davis‘ 3 pointer with 16:58 to play. That’s when LSU found its offensive flow.

South Carolina (21-5, 9-4) had a final chance, but Jacobi Wright‘s 3-pointer from the left corner hit off the rim and bounced away.

LSU players jumped and screamed in celebration while the large home crowd stood in shock.

Tyrell Ward led the Tigers with 16 points. Point guard Trae Hannibal, who played two seasons at South Carolina, had a game-high 12 rebounds.

This one looked over as South Carolina opened the second half with a 9-0 burst for their 16-point lead. Instead, the Gamecocks lost two in a row for the first time this season.

B.J. Mack had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead South Carolina. It looked like the Gamecocks might escape with victory after Ta’Lon Cooper made a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 63-60 lead with 28.1 seconds left.

But Jordan Wright drove for a layup with 15.9 seconds to play to cut into the lead and the Tigers forced a tie up on the inbounds pass to Mack.

Jordan Wright, the team’s leading scorer this season drove inside again and was fouled by Collin Murray-Boyles. He swished both foul shots for the winning points.

After trailing by five midway through opening half, South Carolina seemed to take control with a 21-4 run led by Myles Stute and Murray-Boyles.

Stute, a Vanderbilt transfer, hit a 3-pointer to tie things at 13-all, then Mack had a 3-point play that put South Carolina up.

Murray-Boyles added another inside shot and Stute a 3-point play. When Mack hit a short shot, South Carolina was up 29-17.

KEY STAT

• LSU guard Jordan Wright managed to draw a shooting foul driving to the lane and converted two free throws putting the Tigers up 64-63, with just five seconds remaining in the game. LSU was perfect at the charity stripe in the second half making all five of their attempts.

NOTABLES

• Graduate forward B.J. Mack led the Gamecocks with 18 points and nine rebounds, notching his seventh game this season, leading Carolina in scoring and his eighth leading on the glass. Mack has scored in double-figures in three straight games and was an efficient 8-of-13 from the floor in 26 minutes of action.
• Freshman forward Collin Murray-Boyles was steady again scoring 13 points adding seven rebounds. It marks five straight games he has scored in double-figures and over his last five the big man is averaging 19.0 ppg along with 7.0 rebounds.
• Junior guard Meechie Johnson led the Garnet & Black with four assists to just one turnover. Over his last six contests, Johnson has 28 helpers to just six turnovers, leading Carolina in passing in four of the six games.
• Carolina has now held 21 opponents to less than 70 points this season, which is T-4th nationally and leads the SEC. This includes 10 league opponents, which leads the SEC in front of Texas A&M (7) and Auburn (7).
• Carolina now has 11 single-digit turnover games this season. The 2007-08 team had 12 games with single-digit giveaways, the most by a Gamecock team since entering the SEC in 1991-92.

UP NEXT

The Gamecocks (21-5, 9-4 SEC) have a midweek bye next week and will return to the court next Saturday at Ole Miss (18-6, 5-6 SEC). Richard Cross (pxp) and Pat Bradley (analyst) will be on the call for the 3:30 p.m. (ET) SEC Network broadcast.

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