By Kenneth Cross
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Keyshawn Bryant, of South Carolina, struggled during the 72-66 victory on Wednesday night over Florida. However, when it came time for the clutch, Bryant acted.
Seventh Woods broke a 65-65 draw and after Bryant made a solid block at the defensive end of the court, he slipped into Colin Castleton in possession of the ball that followed for a lead-in and a 69-65 lead Gamecocks with 2:15 play.
Bryant was not submitted, however, managed to block a shot by Castleton and gave the Gamecocks a 71-66 lead. He also had two major defensive rebounds on errors from Tyree Appleby and Tre Mann towards the end of the game.
“Keyshawn Bryant’s late information was a big move for him and we defensively cleaned the defense glass,” said Gamecocks coach Frank Martin.
Florida had 0-to-8 off the ground in the last 6:37 when the Gators’ last field goal came in a dunk from Omar Payne via a Castleton ball pass when they took a 65-59 lead.
Florida responded to two runs in South Carolina with 9-2 and 10-2 sprints with three from Tyree Appleby in each race.
However, South Carolina tied the game at 65-65, with four minutes to play in a dunk by Jayln McCreary, ending the game with a 13-1 streak.
Carolina guard AJ Lawson led all scorers with 22 points, while Seventh Woods scored 12, scoring 6 of 10 field goals. Gamecocks scored 20 points from 13 offensive rebounds and also 16 points from 12 comebacks in Florida.
Tre Mann led four double-digit Gators with 17 points and Noah Locke posted 15.
Florida opened a 55-47 lead when the Gators started the second half with 7 of 10 shots, with Mann and Omar Payne scoring four points each to start the time.
South Carolina capitalized with 10 points scored, while Florida gained 0 out of 6 over almost four minutes. Seventh Woods tied the game at 55-55 and Cousinard’s lay-in gave South Carolina a 57-55 lead with 10:04 to play.
“Seventh Woods made some extremely important plays in the middle of the track, where he is very good. We stopped taking those quick pictures, we stopped turning the tables, ”said Martin. “We made 18 pitches in the second half in the painting.”
Locke and Mann caught Florida in the first half, after the Gators were 10 points behind South Carolina on two occasions.
After Gamecocks led 24-14 on a McCreary tray, they reached a stretch where they reached 1 of 8 with three turns in a 5:10 stretch, while Locke and Mann hit a pair of three while Anthony Duruji dunked out of an on-field pass to cut South Carolina’s lead to 27-25.
Locke gave Florida his first lead since 3-2 at 5:56 in a jump and after Mann tied Florida, Locke hit a three on the right to give the Gators a 36-33 lead with 2:44 left before the break. .
Locke and Lawson each had 13 points as the scoring leaders for each team.
In the beginning, South Carolina started with more energy when the Gamecocks took a 19-9 lead at Bryant’s dunk with 14:38 remaining. Second-year guard Jermaine Cousinard scored seven points in the race, while South Carolina started 9-15 on the field.
“Bluntly, we are just an average defensive team now and it came out tonight,” said Florida coach Mike White in the post-game. “We managed to get away with two or three victories, in which we only defeated opponents.”
Ken Cross, the self-proclaimed “CEO of College Hoops”, has a wealth of experience over a period of more than 20 years in print journalism and broadcasting as a freelancer on the East Coast and in the Charlotte, NC area in particular. He started with the defunct Sports Fan Radio Network in 1997 as a reporter, giving updates on the game and then facilitating post-game interviews with players about winning teams after the games via smart phones. He also worked in the same capacity for ESPN Radio, CBS Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sporting News Radio, Yahoo! Sports Radio in the same period.
In print and on the Internet, Cross continues to write for Lindy’s Sports Annuals as one of the primary writers of the College Basketball preview, as well as a writer for the preview team at Lindy’s College Football. He also contributes frequently to the Lindy’s Sports website with articles on all sports throughout the year in report, editorial and game summary mode. He also writes sample material for the Blue Ribbon College basketball yearbook and covers Wake Forest basketball for Rivals.com.
Cross holds a BA in Mass Communications from Appalachian State University and a Masters in English and Education from Radford University in Virginia. He is a member of the US Basketball Writers Association and the Football Writers Association of America.