Kanon Catchings scored a season-high 20 points on Saturday to help No. 18 Georgia post a 75-70 victory over South Carolina in Southeastern Conference play in Columbia, S.C.
Somto Cyril added 18 points and Jeremiah Wilkinson scored 12 for Georgia (14-2, 2-1 SEC), which rebounded from a 15-point loss at Florida. Blue Cain chipped in 10 points, and reserve Marcus Millender dished out six assists in the win.
Mike Sharavjamts led South Carolina (10-6, 1-2) with 18 points, while Eli Ellis scored 13 off the bench. Meechie Johnson added 11 points and Kobe Knox finished with a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Gamecocks, who led by as many as 12 points in the first half.
Trailing by six at halftime, Georgia opened the second half on a 9-2 run, taking a 43-42 lead on Cyril’s back-to-back baskets.
After Catchings’ triple knotted the score at 54, Ellis scored seven straight to stamp an 8-0 Gamecocks run, giving South Carolina a 62-54 edge at the 8:18 mark of the second half. Millender’s layup then started a 9-0 run, returning the lead to Georgia.
Elijah Strong answered with a layup to give the Gamecocks a one-point edge with 5:42 left, but Georgia scored the game’s next six points, holding South Carolina scoreless until Sharavjamts split a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to four with 26 seconds remaining.
Cyril’s breakaway dunk then pushed the lead to 71-65 with 18 seconds left. Jordan Ross drilled a pair of free throws with 8.7 seconds left before Johnson hit a 3-pointer to cut Georgia’s lead to 73-70.
Millender then made a pair of foul shots with four seconds remaining to ice the road win.
After Cyril and Wilkinson’s layups began the game, Catchings’ 3-pointer put the Bulldogs ahead 7-0.
Cain’s mid-range jumper gave Georgia an 11-6 lead before Ellis’ trey capped an 8-0 Gamecocks run to give South Carolina a three-point lead with 13:14 left in the first half.
Catchings’ second first-half trey gave Georgia a 22-19 lead, but Sharavjamts and Myles Stute’s back-to-back 3-pointers returned the lead to South Carolina.
From there, Strong scored five points of South Carolina’s 13-2 run to give the Gamecocks a 38-26 lead. Georgia closed the gap to 40-34 at halftime.
