COLOMBIA, SC – – Allen Flanigan scored 24 points, the best of his career, with four points out of 3, Sharife Cooper scored a double at half-time and Auburn crashed in South Carolina 109-86 on Saturday, taking his first victory at the Gamecocks home since 2014.
Auburn accumulated more points in a Southeastern Conference victory in the program’s history.
Cooper, a freshman who was eligible for the NCAA on January 9, scored 16 points and had 12 assists in his second double career. He already had 10 points and 11 book assists in the first 20 minutes.
Jaylin Williams scored 18 points with seven rebounds, JT Thor added 14 points and seven rebounds and Devan Cambridge scored 10, while the Tigers (9-7, 3-5) scored 40 of 77 field goals (52%), including 14 of 27 from beyond the 3-point arc. The Tigers made 15 of the 16 free throws to complete the dominant scoring effort.
Cooper’s impact was felt following Auburn’s 11-1 streak, which lasted just over two minutes of the first half. Although he made just one shot and missed, he had four assists and a blocked shot during the race.
The Auburn blast included Javon Franklin and Williams’s consecutive dunks around Cooper’s block in South Carolina’s Trae Hannibal. The dunks pushed Auburn’s lead to double digits, 25-14, where he remained most of the way to the interval and the entire second half.
The Tigers opened the second half with six consecutive points.
Keyshawn Bryant scored 24 points for South Carolina (3-5, 1-3), with AJ Lawson adding 23 and Jermaine Couisnard 16. Couisnard had six assists. Gamecocks were overcome 46-34, surpassed at second chance points 21-9 and 46-30 in the painting.
Next, Auburn plays consecutive games against Top 25 teams: receiving Missouri’s No. 19 on Tuesday, before traveling to second place, Baylor, on January 30. South Carolina will host Georgia on Wednesday.
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