Gamecocks Suffer 74-64 Loss At Vanderbilt In Regular Season Finale
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – South
Carolina (14-17, 4-14 SEC) dropped their regular season finale to
Vanderbilt (14-16, 8-10 SEC) 74-64 at Memorial Gymnasium on Saturday
afternoon. For the second game in a row, junior guard Brenton Williams
led South Carolina offensively, scoring 17 points.
Junior guard
Bruce Ellington was the only other Gamecock to reach double figures,
scoring 10 on the afternoon. Freshman forward Laimonas Chatkevicius
contributed nine points. Freshman forward Michael Carrera registered a
game-high 13 rebounds in the contest. South Carolina out-rebounded
Vanderbilt 39-32 and held a 17-8 upperhand on the offensive glass.
Three
Commodores reached double digits in the game. Junior forward Rod
Odom and sophomore guard Dai-Jon Parker scored a game-high 18 points
apiece with sophomore guard Kedren Johnson adding 12 in the matchup.
Odom collected a team-high 8 boards for Vanderbilt.
The
Gamecocks shot 35.9 percent from the floor, hitting 23-of-64 of their
attempts while the Commodores hit 22-of-48 of their shots for a 45.8
percent performance. Vanderbilt notched 23 points from the free
throw line on 28 attempts in comparison to South Carolina’s 11-of-13
from the charity stripe.
The score stood at 6-4 Vanderbilt at
the opening media timeout and the teams traded baskets out of the break
before a 3 from Vandy’s Parker put the score at 13-8 Commodores with
11:57 to go in the opening half.
Junior guard Brian Richardson
connected for a tip-in at the 10:50 mark, and Carrera was a perfect
4-of-4 from the charity stripe over the course of the next two
minutes. Parker hit his second 3 of the half for Vandy during the
stretch, and the score stood at 16-14 Commodores with 7:34 to play.
Junior
forward RJ Slawson provided a lay-up and Chatkevicius connected for two
from the free throw line with 4:33 to play before half, but Vandy’s
Odom connected from long range on back-to-back possessions to push the
lead to 10 at 28-18, forcing a Carolina timeout with 3:29 to play.
Ellington
continued solid shooting from the free throw line for the Gamecocks
with two makes with 3:11 showing on the clock to pull Carolina within
eight, but Odom added two jumpers and a pair of free throws around a 3
from Ellington to put the score at 34-23 Commodores with just over a
minute to play.
A last-second lay-in from Vandy’s junior guard
Kyle Fuller put the score at 36-25 at the half. The Gamecocks
shot just 26.7 percent (8-30) from the floor in the first half,
compared to a solid 53.8 percent (14-26) from the Commodores.
Carolina’s 8-of-8 effort from the free throw line offset a 1-of-7 mark
from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes. Ellington posted
five points in the half to lead the Gamecocks, Vandy’s Odom provided 16
to pace the team.
Chatkevicius hit a turnaround jumper on an
assist from freshman forward Brian Steele with 16:53 remaining to pull
the Gamecocks within 10 at 37-27.
Williams scored eight straight
points through the middle part of the second half to put the score at
41-37 Vandy with 13 minutes to play. VU’s Johnson would add two
from the free throw line, and Steele would hit a 3 for Carolina,
countered by a 3 from Vanderbilt freshman forward Sheldon Jeter for a
46-40 Commodore lead at the 11:57 mark.
Chatkevicius provided
five-straight points for the Gamecocks near the eight-minute mark,
capped with a 3 with 8:06 on the clock to pull Carolina within four at
52-48.
The Gamecocks pulled within two at 56-54 with 3:45 to
play on solid shooting around the basket. A jumper from Williams
and Ellington, and a lay-up from senior forward Lakeem Jackson and a
called foul capped the 6-2 run at the 3:45 mark.
A jumper from
Vandy’s redshirt sophomore center Josh Henderson and made 3 from Parker
pushed the Vandy lead to 61-54 with 2:15 to play, forcing a Gamecocks
timeout.
Ellington connected for a 3 out of the break for a
61-57 score, but Commodore freshman guard Kevin Bright countered with a
3 at the opposite end.
Smith added a lay-up at the one-minute
mark and Williams sank a 3 with 35.6 seconds to go for a 66-62 Vandy
upperhand, but the Commodores connected from the free throw line in the
final seconds to close the 74-64 win.
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