TOP 25/SEC MEN

Thornwell's 20 lifts S. Carolina

South Carolina guard Sindarius Thornwell (0) scored 20 points, including 15 in the second half, to lead the No. 24 Gamecocks to a 57-53 victory over No. 19 Florida on Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
South Carolina guard Sindarius Thornwell (0) scored 20 points, including 15 in the second half, to lead the No. 24 Gamecocks to a 57-53 victory over No. 19 Florida on Wednesday night at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.

NO. 24 SOUTH CAROLINA 57, NO. 19 FLORIDA 53

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Sindarius Thornwell scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half and No. 24 South Carolina's defense smothered high-scoring No. 19 Florida much of the way for a 57-53 victory Wednesday night.

The Gamecocks (15-3, 5-0 SEC) opened the second half with a 14-2 run and held on down the stretch when the Gators (15-4, 5-1) drew within 54-53 on Chris Chiozza's free throws shots with 40.3 seconds to go. PJ Dozier drove for South Carolina's final basket and Florida fumbled it out of bounds on its next possession.

Leading scorer KeVaughn Allen had one point for Florida while Kasey Hill scored all 11 of his in the opening half before fouling out. Canyon Barry led the Gators with 13 points.

Florida went 0 of 17 from three-point range, ending a streak of 850 consecutive games with a long-range basket that was the longest in the NCAA. The Gators last went 0-from-behind the arc in an 80-61 loss to Kentucky in 1992.

They didn't do much better from 2, making only seven field goals in the second half and getting held to their fewest points of the season -- 26 less than their average coming in.

Chris Silva had 11 points and Dozier 10 for the Gamecocks, who are off to their best SEC start since opening 11-0 in 1996-97. That team went on to an SEC title, winning at Kentucky. This group gets that chance on Saturday against the fifth-ranked Wildcats with the league lead at stake.

The Gators came in scoring 79 points a game, 20 more than South Carolina's SEC-leading defensive average. But Florida seemed to wear down the Gamecocks' end-to-end defense as the game continued.

Hill led the way, driving to the basket every chance he got and scoring 11 points in the opening half. Hill will have to keep that up all season if the Gators hope to take down SEC powerhouse Kentucky.

The Gamecocks' efforts on the defensive end may have cost them on offense. They missed their first eight shots and finished with just seven first-half field goals.

Florida's size underneath led by 6-foot-9 Kevarrius Hayes and 6-8 Devin Robinson kept South Carolina's post players bottled up. Silva and Maik Kotsar each were limited with two early fouls and went a combined 1-of-6 shooting in the half.

The Gamecocks continue to struggle with turnovers. They had 20 or more their past two games and looked on its way to another similar showing against Florida. But South Carolina finished with just five second-half turnovers to take control.

In other games involving Top 25 men's teams Wednesday, Kristian Doolittle scored six of his 12 points in overtime and Jordan Woodard's layup with 2.2 seconds left lifted Oklahoma to an 89-87 victory over No. 7 West Virginia in overtime. Freshman Kameron McGusty added 17 points for Oklahoma (8-9, 2-4 Big 12) in just his third start of the season. Jevon Carter scored a season-high 23 points for West Virginia (15-3, 4-2). ... Jonathan Isaac scored 23 points, including 17 in the second half, as No. 10 Florida State beat No. 15 Notre Dame 83-80 to move into a three-way tie atop the Atlantic Coast Conference at the one-third mark in conference play. Dwayne Bacon added 11 points for Florida State (17-2, 5-1). Steve Vasturia scored 18 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Fighting Irish (16-3, 5-1). ... Devon Hall scored 13 points and Isaiah Wilkins had 11 points and nine rebounds before heading to the bench early as No. 16 Virginia (14-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat Boston College 71-54. Connor Tava scored 12 points with a season-high 11 rebounds and Jordan Chatman had 16 points for the Eagles (9-10, 2-4). ... Kyle Washington scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half, rallying No. 20 Cincinnati to its ninth consecutive victory, 81-74 over Temple. Troy Caupain had 18 points for the Bearcats (16-2, 6-0 American Athletic). Shizz Alston Jr. led Temple (10-10, 1-6) with 25 points for the second game in a row, matching his career high.

SEC MEN

Alabama rolls

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- There wasn't a lot for the home crowd to cheer for during Alabama's 68-56 victory over the Missouri Tigers, but Riley Norris did his best to keep the crowd in it with 11 first-half points.

"It doesn't surprise me to see him have a great first half like that," teammate Braxton Key said. "We were just joking around, I think we traded roles: I was the slasher at the beginning of the season, now he's taking it to the basket, getting to the free-throw line and I'm the three-point specialist."

Both teams struggled to score in the first half thanks in part to turnovers (11 for Missouri and seven for Alabama (11-6, 4-1 SEC) and poor shooting. The Tigers (5-12, 0-5) shot 6 of 20 from the floor in the first half, and Alabama players not named Norris shot 6 of 24 over the same stretch.

Terrence Phillips led the Tigers with 16 points and seven assists and Russell Woods had 13 points. Early in the second half the duo helped the Tigers close the gap to four after they combined to score seven points in a minute of play, but Dazon Ingram responded with back-to-back threes that helped Alabama remain in front in the second half.

"(Those threes were) killer," Missouri Coach Kim Anderson said. "We went to the zone and they overloaded it on us and we couldn't get out of it fast enough. We were hoping they would continue shooting like they did the first half, but obviously they didn't."

Key also made a pair of threes in the second half to help the Crimson Tide finish the half 6 of 12 beyond the arc. Avery Johnson Jr. scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half.

"They weren't looking at me trying to get a play called," Alabama Coach Avery Johnson said of his team after the game. "They took some responsibility and I like the way the ball was moving in the second half and we were ready to shoot and we took quality shots both inside and outside the three-point line."

In another game involving SEC men’s teams Wednesday, T.J. Dunans scored 12 points, including a jump shot with 38 seconds left, and Auburn held off LSU 78-74. Auburn (12-6, 2-4 SEC) lost most of a 15-point second-half lead before regrouping. Aaron Epps helped LSU (9-8, 1-5) close to within two points several times down the stretch but the visiting Tigers couldn’t finish off the comeback.

Sports on 01/19/2017

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