Gamecocks Edged By Ole Miss, 75-74
Freshman
forward Sindarius Thornwell's first career double-double wasn't enough
as South Carolina fell 75-74 to Ole Miss this evening at Colonial Life
Arena in front of its largest crowd of the season at 14,302. Thornwell
led the Gamecocks with 24 points and a season high 11 rebounds, but he
was unable to hit a tough off-balance shot from the top of the key with
1.8 seconds left.
Thornwell led all scorers, going 7-of-16
from the field and 4-7 from beyond on the arc. Anthony Perez led the
Rebels with 22 points, while Marshall Henderson and Aaron each had 19.
Ole
Miss opened up the game on a 12-4 run triggered by 3's from Henderson
and Perez. Just over four minutes into the game, point guard Duane
Notice was whistled for his second foul sending him to the bench. Two
minutes later a dunk from Aaron Jones off of an inbound pass forced the
Gamecocks to call its first timeout as they trailed by eight. South
Carolina began chipping away through Jaylen Shaw as the freshman hit a
3-pointer with 13:26 on the clock before converting a pair from the
foul line 30 seconds later.
Trailing 16-9, Shaw drained his second 3 of the half at the 10:29 mark to bring the Gamecocks within three.
Just
under two minutes later, Michael Carrera turned over Jarvis Summers and
took it the length of the court for a layup to pull the Gamecocks
within one. Fouled on the play, the sophomore converted the three-point
play to tie the game. With just over eight minutes remaining in the
half, Carrera gave Carolina its first lead with a pair from the free
throw line. Carrera continued to be the catalyst for the home
team during the early part of the run as he pushed the lead to four as
Thornwell found him on the back door.
Thornwell then extended the
Gamecocks lead to 27-21 with a 3 from the right side. The forward added
two more of his game-high 24 points with just over two minutes
remaining in the half to give Carolina an eight-point lead. After two
more from Mindaugas Kacinas, the Gamecocks took their largest lead of
the half at 12, 37-25, after Desmond Ringer hit a pair from the foul
line with 1:27 left.
Perez added two in the final minute
for the Rebels, but Carolina took a 37-27 lead into the half as the
team turned 11 Ole Miss turnovers into 16 points.
Despite
two early free throws from Thornwell to open the second half, the
Rebels went on a 15-2 spurt as Henderson scored seven straight points
during the run after only scoring three in the first half. After
giving up the lead for the first time since the 8:06 mark in the first
half, Thornwell responded with a back-to-back 3-pointers to hold the
Gamecocks lead at 47-45. Henderson though, quickly responded with a 3
of his own to grab the Rebels the lead back.
Down three at
54-51, Thornwell leveled the game with his season-high fourth 3-pointer
of the game with 11:26 on the clock, but South Carolina was unable to
regain the lead until the 6:04 mark. Thorwell went was sent to the line
after pulling down an offensive rebound a missed free throw. The
freshmen hit 1-of-2 from the line to give the Gamecocks a 62-61 lead.
Notice
extended the lead to three on the ensuing possession with a floater in
the lane for his first points of the afternoon. The freshman point
guard pushed the lead to five with four and half remaining, but the
Rebels scored five straight points to tie the game up at 68-68 with
2:56 to play.
With
2:04 left, Summers drove hard through lane and kicked the ball out to
Perez in the left corner where the forward hit his second 3 of the
game. Brenton Williams attempted to match Perez at the other end, but
his shot was off the mark. Summers then converted two from the foul
line to push the Rebels lead to 73-68.
Ole Miss though was
only able to hit 2-of-6 free throws in the final minutes as the
Gamecocks closed the gap at the foul line. After Thornwell converted
two attempts, Williams was fouled on a 3-point attempt with six seconds
remaining. The senior calmly sank all three free throws to bring
Carolina within one.
The Rebels were unable to get a clean
inbound pass off and Williams grabbed the errant pass in the backcourt.
Out of a timeout with 1.8 seconds left, Thornwell received the pass at
the top of the key, but the pressure on the ball forced an off-balance
shot that was wide of the mark.
Shaw and Williams each
scored nine points on the day for the Gamecocks, with Williams going
9-of-9 from the charity stripe. Carerra chipped in eight points and six
rebounds.
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