Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Field Level Media and has been republished in full below.
AJ Lawson’s 22 points and eight rebounds, and a clever second-half performance at Seventh Woods led South Carolina to a 72-66 victory over Florida’s 22nd place on Wednesday night in Gainesville.
Woods scored all 12 points in the second half and started the Gamecocks (5-6, 3-4 SEC) in a 13-1 run in the last 5 minutes and 45 seconds of the game.
After Omar Payne’s dunk with 6:37 to go in the second half that gave the Gators a 65-59 lead, Florida (10-5, 6-4) did not make a field goal for the rest of the competition.
South Carolina, who had lost four of their five previous games, won on the road for the first time this season.
With 25 seconds remaining, it was a five-point game, and Tyree Appleby went to the line for a 1 and 1 free-throw opportunity to Florida, but he missed the front line and Lawson caught the rebound to help put the game away for Gamecocks.
Florida won four consecutive games to win its first Top 25 ranking of the season.
The Gators seemed ready to extend this sequence with a solid defensive effort in the painting led by Tre Mann’s 17 points and eight rebounds and Colin Castleton’s 11 points and seven rebounds. Florida ended the season’s record with 12 blocks, led by Castleton’s seven rejections.
But the Gamecocks made great contributions by starting guard Jermaine Cousinard and Keyshawn Bryant off the bench. Bryant finished with eight points and seven rebounds and defended himself, forcing several hard kicks in the final stretch. Cousinard ended with nine points, four rebounds and three steals in one of his best games this season.
South Carolina overcame Florida by 43-35 overall and 13-8 in offensive rebounds. Wildens Leveque helped with seven rebounds and six points.
The Gamecocks took advantage of the starting advantage in a 10-0 race that was led by Lawson and Cousinard, building a 19-19 lead, and even though Florida regained the lead at the end of the first half, the late wave of South Carolina. South was too much for the Gators.