South Carolina’s Meechie Johnson totaled 17 points on a day of perfect shooting, and the Gamecocks flattened Stetson 82-51 on Saturday afternoon in Columbia, S.C.
A senior guard, Johnson made all five of his field-goals attempts, including a pair of 3-pointers, and went 5-for-5 from the foul line. He added four assists and four rebounds.
The Gamecocks (6-3) won for the second time in the past five games by building a 19-point halftime lead. They shot 62.5% from the field, 46.2% from 3-point range, and made all seven of their free throws in the first half.
Elijah Strong and Grant Polk had 12 points apiece for the game, and Mike Sharavjamts notched nine points and seven rebounds.
Overall, the Gamecocks made 30 of 55 shots (54.5%) from the field and 12 of 27 tries (44.4%) from deep. They won the rebounding battle 41-20 and points in the paint 34-20.
Stetson (3-8) lost its fifth straight game and fell to 0-6 away from home and was ineffective from the field, making 18 of 56 shots (32.1%), including just 4 of 21 (19%) of its 3-pointers.
Ethan Copeland, Collin Kuhl and Jamie Phillips Jr. had 10 points each for the Hatters.
Stetson jumped to a 5-0 lead over their Southeastern Conference foe on Jake Johnson’s 3-pointer and a layup by Kuhl, but South Carolina rallied and led for the first time at 14:53 on Meechie Johnson’s pair of free throws.
Strong completed an 18-4 run by the Gamecocks by drilling a trey at 12:19 to push the advantage to 18-9. Sharavjamts put in five points, including a 3-pointer, to break a 6-0 run by Stetson and get the lead to 23-15 with 7:29 left.
Strong’s jumper created South Carolina’s first double-digit lead at 31-21 at the 3:31 mark.
Inside the final three minutes of the half, the home squad went on a 12-3 run, and Meechie Johnson canned a long ball far behind the arc for a 43-24 lead at the break.
In the second half, South Carolina bumped the advantage to 22 on two free throws by Kobe Knox at 16:26. The lead continued to grow, eventually to 33 points, and South Carolina emptied its bench as the club outscored the ASUN squad 39-27 over the final 20 minutes.
