Johnson Scores 19 to Lead Gamecocks Over The Citadel, 71-55

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Meechie Johnson scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half and South Carolina overcame a cold-shooting start to beat The Citadel 71-55 on Saturday night.

Mike Sharavjamts added 14 points and Kobe Knox 12 for South Carolina (7-3).

The Gamecocks missed their first 19 3-point shots before Myles Stute hit a 3 with 9:20 left in the game. Johnson and Grant Polk made back-to-back 3-pointers that gave South Carolina a 55-47 lead less than three minutes later.

Johnson converted a three-point play and Hayden Assemian followed with a basket that made it an 11-point game with 4:24 remaining.

Carter Kingsbury made 8 of 14 from the field and led The Citadel (3-8) with 18 points.

South Carolina finished 3 of 23 from 3-point range and shot 42% overall, but made 9 of 14 from the field over the final 10 minutes.

The Bulldogs, who are 0-8 against Division-I opponents this season, shot 37% from the field, made 2 of 19 (11%) from 3-point range, and hit 11 of 20 (55%) from the free-throw line.

KEY STATS

• The Gamecocks held their second-straight opponent below 40.0% shooting, holding the Bulldogs to 36.8% (21-of-57) from the floor tonight. Carolina improves to 28-3 under head coach Lamont Paris when holding its opponent below 40.0%.
• Carolina improves to 45-9 under Paris when holding its opponents below 70 points.
• Despite a tough night shooting behind the arc, the Gamecocks were efficient from 2-point territory, shooting 61.1% (22-of-36).
• Carolina also shot it well at the charity stripe, going 18-of-21 (85.7%) as a team. 

NOTABLES

• Redshirt senior guard Meechie Johnson finished with 19 points to become the 48^th member of the 1,000-point club at South Carolina. He entered the evening with 981 points in 72 career games in Garnet & Black. AJ Lawson was the last Gamecock to score 1,000 career points from 2018-21. He currently is on a two-way contract for his hometown Toronto Raptors playing alongside fellow Gamecock and lottery pick Collin Murray-Boyles.
• Senior transfer Mike Sharavjamts had 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
• Redshirt senior transfer guard Kobe Knox was also in double-figures with 12 points. He was 6-for-6 at the free throw line. The Tampa, Fla. native is the team’s top free throw shooter at 88.2% (30-of-34 FTs).
• Tonight’s victory was the 14^th straight over The Citadel in what was the 100^th all-time meeting between the two programs (Clemson the only school Carolina has faced more).
• It was the Gamecocks’ first triumph over the Bulldogs since an 80-66 win on Dec. 20, 2008 at Colonial Life Arena.

UP NEXT
South Carolina heads to The Upstate for its first and only true road game of the non-conference slate, facing in-state rival Clemson (8-3) in the annual Palmetto Series. Roy Philpott (pxp) and Mark Wise (analyst) will be on the call for the 7 p.m. (ET) ESPN2 broadcast at Littlejohn Coliseum.

###