Gamecocks Drop Senior Night Game, 73-64, to Georgia

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Silas Demary Jr. had 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Blue Cain added 14 points and Georgia beat South Carolina 73-64 on Tuesday night.

Georgia scored the opening six points of the game and led throughout. South Carolina got within 49-47 with 9:24 left in the second half after Nick Pringle completed a three-point play, but the Gamecocks did not make another field goal until the 2:50 mark.

After South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles missed two free throws with 52.3 seconds left that could have cut the deficit to four points, Dylan James completed a three-point play at the other end to make it 69-60.

Freshman Asa Newell scored 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting for Georgia (19-11, 7-10 SEC), which also bested the Gamecocks 71-60 on Jan. 28.

Murray-Boyles led South Carolina (12-18, 2-15) with 24 points after going 13 of 18 from the free-throw line. Pringle added 11 points.

Demary, the SEC player of the Week after averaging 23.5 points per game in wins over Florida and Texas, led all scorers in the first half with 10 points to help Georgia take a 40-29 lead.

Cain, who entered 10 of 23 from 3-point range in the last five games, made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to extend Georgia’s lead to 57-47.

KEY STATS

• Despite knocking down 10 3s, Carolina shot just 37.3% from the floor for the game, going 9-of-28 (32.1%) on its 2-point field goal attempts.
• Georgia was plus-14 in the rebound column with a 37-23 advantage on the boards. The Gamecocks fall to 0-10 this season when losing the rebound battle.

NOTABLES

• Sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles had another big game for South Carolina, finishing with a game-high 24 points, his fourth-straight game with 20 or more points. He added a team-high five assists, five rebounds, a block and a steal. Murray-Boyles made a career-high 13 free throws tonight.
• During the 20-point streak, the Columbia, S.C. native is averaging 27.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. He’s 36-of-54 (66.7%) from the field and 35-of-43 (81.4%) at the charity stripe.

• Murray-Boyles now has a career-best 11, 20-point games this season.
• Graduate forward Nick Pringle had 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting to record his second-straight game in double-figures for Carolina.
• Senior Jacobi Wright, a four-year letterwinner for the Gamecocks, had six points and four assists in what was his final game at Colonial Life Arena.
• For the second-straight game, junior guard Zachary Davis led the team in rebounds finishing with seven tonight against the Bulldogs.

UP NEXT

Carolina heads to Rocky Top for its final game of the regular season on Saturday to face #4/4 Tennessee (24-5, 11-5 SEC). Dave Neal (pxp) and Jon Sundvold (analyst) will be on the call for the 2 p.m. (ET) SEC Network broadcast. The Gamecocks upset the No. 5/5 Vols on their home floor last season in what was the program’s first top-five road win since 1997 at No. 3 Kentucky.

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