COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Jamarii Thomas had 19 points and Zachary Davis scored 18 to lead South Carolina to an 84-72 victory over Mercer on Thursday night.

Thomas made 5 of 10 shots from the floor, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and 5 of 8 free throws for the Gamecocks (3-2). He also had three steals. Davis sank 7 of 12 shots with a pair of 3-pointers, adding five rebounds.

Collin Murray-Boyles scored 16 and finished a rebound shy of a double-double for South Carolina. Jacobi Wright scored 11.

Tyler Johnson hit four 3-pointers and led the Bears (2-3) with 15 points. Alex Holt and Angel Montas Jr. added 14 points apiece and Ahmad Robinson pitched in with 13 points and eight assists before fouling out. TJ Grant grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench.

Thomas and Davis scored seven points apiece in the first half to help South Carolina take a 36-32 lead into intermission. Cam Bryant scored all nine of his points and Johnson scored seven to keep Mercer (2-3) close. The difference in the first half was the Gamecocks made 5 of 9 free throws while the Bears did not attempt one.

South Carolina maintained a lead until Robinson buried a 3-pointer to put the Bears on top 60-59 with 10:47 left to play.

The Gamecocks moved back in front and a Myles Stute 3-pointer gave them their biggest lead to that point at 70-62 with 7:45 remaining. A Murray-Boyles dunk pushed the lead to double digits with 3:39 to go and South Carolina was not threatened from there.

It was the first time the two schools squared off since Dec. 30, 2001 — Dave Odom’s first season as South Carolina’s coach.

South Carolina will play Xavier in the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Monday.

KEY STAT

• South Carolina made a season-high 12 triples tonight, T-4^th most in the Lamont Paris era.
• The Gamecocks held a 29-21 edge in bench points and a 11-3 edge in fastbreak points.

NOTABLES

• South Carolina has now won four-straight over Mercer with tonight marking the first victory over the Bears since 2001.
• Senior transfer Jamarii Thomas had a season-high 19 points to lead the team. He was 4-of-5 from behind the arc.
• Junior Zachary Davis had a career-high 18 points off the bench. He was 7-of-12 from the floor with five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
• Sophomore Collin Murray-Boyles had 16 points and nine rebounds, just missing another double-double. He was effective and efficient per usual, going 6-of-7 from the floor with a pair of steals on the defensive end of the floor. He was 2-for-2 from deep, the first two 3s of his career in 33 games played the last two seasons.

UP NEXT

The Gamecocks head south for a two-game MTE in the program’s debut at the Fort Myers Tip-Off. Carolina opens vs. Xavier (5-0) on Monday. Tip is 8:30 p.m. (ET) on FS1 with Jeff Levering (pxp) and Donny Marshall (analyst) on the call. The team will face ei­ther Virginia Tech or Michigan Wednesday.

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The University of South Carolina athletic program tied for third in the Southeastern Conference in the latest Graduation Success Rate, released Wednesday by the NCAA.

The Graduation Success Rate (GSR) measures the number of scholarship student-athletes that graduate within a six-year period of their initial full-time enrollment. For this report, the GSR is based on student-athletes who entered college in the fall of 2017.

South Carolina’s athletic teams had a 94 percent score, which tied with Auburn University and the University of Mississippi in the SEC behind Vanderbilt (96) and Alabama (96). South Carolina’s Football GSR score (95) ranked second among SEC schools and South Carolina schools. It tied for ninth among all Power 5 schools.

“I am so proud of the academic achievements of our student-athletes,” said Athletics Director Ray Tanner.  “Our student-athletes work hard in practice and in games, and they also put in the time with their academics.  We have the staff and resources to help our student-athletes reach their goal of graduation.

An outstanding nine teams scored a perfect GSR (100): Men’s Soccer, Men’s Tennis, Women’s Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Softball, Women’s Soccer, Women’s Tennis, Women’s Track & Field, and Volleyball.

Thirteen of South Carolina’s NCAA-sponsored teams met or exceeded the Division I national average for their sport.

“Once again our student-athletes have demonstrated a strong tradition of academic dedication and tenacity”, said Charlie Ball, Associate AD. “Student-athletes at the University of South Carolina have a competitive edge in the classroom and in their respective sports. We are excited to have the ability to offer notable academic support and provide a one-of-a-kind SEC academic experience.”

A Record of Academic Success

Gamecock Athletics has developed a proud tradition of academic success, achieving numerous honors and reaching high levels of achievement during the 2023-24 academic year.

• Student-athletes at USC ended the Spring 2024 semester with a departmental grade point average (GPA) of 3.37. It was the 35th consecutive semester with a departmental GPA above 3.0.  The cumulative GPA for all student-athletes in each sport since they arrived at Carolina is 3.41, which is the third highest cumulative grade point average ever for Gamecock student-athletes.
• 133 Gamecock student-athletes earned their degrees during the 2023-24 academic year.
• South Carolina had 430 members on the SEC Academic Honor Roll (fall, winter, spring, first-year), which was third in the SEC. Since 2015-16, South Carolina leads all schools with 3,748 members of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.  South Carolina led all schools in SEC Academic Honor Roll in seven of the last nine years (2nd – 2017-18; 3rd – 2023-24).
• Six Gamecocks earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors. It is the first time since 2021 that Gamecocks have had multiple first-team and six overall Academic All-Americans.  The list includes Dylan Taggart, Men’s Track & Field (1st Team / CSC Academic All-America Track & Field Team Member of the Year), Sarah Hamner, Women’s Tennis (1^st Team), Anass Essayi , Men’s Track & Field (2^ndTeam), Cole Messina, Baseball (3^rd Team), Skylar Allen, Beach Volleyball (3^rd Team) and Louise Rydqvist, Women’s Golf (3^rd Team).
• 43 Gamecocks earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors and four earned conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors in their respective sports – Dylan Taggart (SEC Indoor & Outdoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year), Louis Rvdqvist (SEC women’s golf), Ayana Akli (SEC women’s tennis) and Skylar Allen (CCSA Beach Volleyball Scholar-Athlete of the Year).