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South Carolina Falls to Oklahoma in SEC Tournament
Men's Basketball  . 

South Carolina Falls to Oklahoma in SEC Tournament

South Carolina Athletics

Sooners hit 8 of their 11 3s in the final 20 minutes to pull away from Gamecocks in 86-74 victory

Full Gamebook (PDF) Final Box (PDF) Season Stats (PDF)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nijel Pack scored 24 points shooting 5 for 10 from 3-point range and Oklahoma beat South Carolina 86-74 in an opening-round game of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday.

The 11th-seeded Sooners (18-14) advance to play sixth-seeded Texas A&M on Thursday.

Derrion Reid scored 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting, Tae Davis 18 shooting 7 of 10 and Xzayvier Brown 14 shooting 6 of 7. Oklahoma shot 60% (30 of 50).

Kobe Knox scored 20 points, Mike Sharavjamts 19 and Meechie Johnson 14 for 14th-seeded South Carolina (13-19). The Gamecocks shot 41% (25 of 61).

South Carolina built a 29-19 in the game’s first 10 minutes and the Gamecocks led 39-28 after Knox made a 3-pointer with 5:24 before halftime.

Down the stretch, the Sooners outscored South Carolina 14-3 to tie it at 42 at halftime. Oklahoma emerged from the break continuing its offensive spurt and outscored the Gamecocks 13-5 in the first five minutes of the second half and led 56-47.

Johnson’s 3-pointer with 10:52 left brought the Gamecocks within 61-56 but they would never get closer.

Brown’s 3 with 7:53 to go made it 70-60 and Oklahoma led by double digits for the remainder.

KEY STAT

  • Carolina was 8-of-15 (53.3%) from 3 in the first half but just 3-of-14 (21.4%) from behind the arc in the game’s final 20 minutes.
  • The Sooners hit 11 3s, eight of which came in the second half. They were 30-of-50 (60%) from the floor in the game.

NOTABLES

  • Meechie Johnson finished the season with 18 consecutive games in double-figures after scoring 14 points tonight at Bridgestone Arena. He added seven rebounds and four assists.
  • Johnson scored 10 or more a team-leading 26 times this season and averaged a career-best 17.2 points per game. He averaged 19.7 points per game in 18 SEC contests this season.
  • Johnson finishes his South Carolina career No. 19 on the all-time scoring list with 1,395 career points in three seasons as a Gamecock.
  • Kobe Knox had a team-high 20 points in his final game in Garnet and Black. It was his second 20-point game of the season as he was 1-point away from matching his career high. He also led the team with five assists and three steals.
  • Mike Sharavjamts had 19 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

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