BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – – Cameron Thomas scored 25 points, Trendon Watford had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and LSU came together to beat South Carolina 85-80 on Saturday night.
The Tigers (10-2, 5-1 Southeast Conference) lost for almost 34 minutes of playing time, but had a 20-4 run during the final eight minutes, with Thomas scoring the last six points to 84-76 with 34 seconds left. The Gamecocks (3-3, 1-1) missed 11 shots straight from the field while the game escaped.
Javonte Smart scored 15 points and Darius Days scored 11 for LSU.
Keyshawn Bryant had 26 points and seven rebounds, and AJ Lawson had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists, scoring 18 in the first half for South Carolina. Wildens Leveque and Justin Minaya added 12 points each, Minaya with 10 rebounds and Leveque with eight.
Due to the COVID-19 protocols, South Carolina coach Frank Martin, assistant coach Chuck Martin and Doug Edwards, who takes care of student-athlete development, were not present. Assistant coach Bruce Shingler made his debut as head coach as an interim coach.
South Carolina has had eight games canceled or postponed this season.
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