South Carolina’s Davis lays in game-winner vs. Aggies

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) – Zachary Davis scored on a layup with three seconds remaining to give No. 18 South Carolina a 70-68 victory over Texas A&M on Wednesday night.

Meechie Johnson took an inbounds pass with less than 10 seconds remaining and drove down the lane before dishing off to Davis, who banked in a layup for the lead. Texas A&M had a chance to send it to overtime, but Wade Taylor IV tripped and lost the ball getting it past half court, sealing the South Carolina win.

Johnson scored 22 points as South Carolina (23-5, 11-4 Southeastern Conference) won its second straight game after losing two in a row. Davis finished with 16 points.

Tyrece Radford led the Aggies (15-13, 6-9) with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Taylor added 15 points.

South Carolina led by seven points before the Aggies used a 7-2 spurt, with five points from Manny Obaseki, to cut the lead to 68-66 with just more than a minute to go.

Ta’lon Cooper missed a free throw for the Gamecocks before A&M tied it at 68 on a driving layup by Taylor with nine seconds left.

Texas A&M continued its recent freefall, extending its season-worst skid to five games. The Aggies haven’t won since beating then-No. 6 Tennessee on Feb. 10.

The Aggies trailed by 13 points before scoring the next 10 points to cut the Gamecocks’ lead to 46-43 midway through the second half.

B.J. Mack made one of two free throws for South Carolina, but Texas A&M scored the next seven points, capped by a 3-pointer by Solomon Washington, to take a 50-47 lead with 8½ minutes remaining.

The Gamecocks missed seven consecutive shots and went more than six minutes without a field goal, allowing Texas A&M to move ahead.

Texas A&M had a two-point lead after two free throws by Taylor before South Carolina used a 9-0 run to take a 66-59 lead with 2 1/2 minutes left. Johnson led the way in that stretch, grabbing a steal and finishing with a layup at the other end before making a three-point play on the next possession.

KEY STAT

• Junior guard Meechie Johnson made his biggest pass of the night to sophomore guard Zachary Davis who scored the game winning layup with three seconds remaining in regulation. The last Gamecock to hit a last-second shot (within three seconds) to win a game was Chico Carter Jr. vs. Clemson on Nov. 11, 2022.
• The Gamecocks limited the best offensive rebounding team in the nation to 11 boards on that end of the floor, almost seven below their season average.

NOTABLES

• For the second straight game, Zachary Davis recorded a new career-high with 16 points. Davis also set a new career best with eight made field goals, shooting 8-of-14 from the field.
• Meechie Johnson led all scorers with 22 points on 50.0 percent shooting (7-for-14). It is the 12th time this season he has led the Garnet & Black in scoring and Carolina improves to 9-3 in games where he scores 20 or more points the last two seasons.
• Freshman Collin Murray-Boyles grabbed a new career-high 12 rebounds, leading the Gamecocks on the glass. He added eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and dished three assists in his 13th start of the season. 
• Graduate guard Ta’Lon Cooper nearly had a triple-double finishing with 11 points, eight rebounds, and a team-high nine helpers. It is his 12th game this season with five or more assists and his 19th leading the team in passing. Cooper entered tonight’s matchup eighth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.45:1) and fourth in the SEC in assists per game averaging 4.2 per contest. 
• Redshirt senior guard Ebrima Dibba played in just his second game this season and scored his first career points as a Gamecock. The Coastal Carolina transfer last scored on April 1, 2022, against Fresno State and missed all last season with an Achillies injury suffered in summer workouts during the 2022 offseason.
• The Gamecock defense held A&M to just 11.8 percent (2-for-17) from beyond the arc. Carolina has held back-to-back opponents to less than 20.0 percent from long range and has given up just five triples (5-for-33) over the two games.
• Carolina has now held 23 opponents to less than 70 points this season, which is T-4th nationally and leads the SEC. The Gamecocks have held 13 league opponents below 70 points, which leads the SEC in front of Tennessee (9), Texas A&M (7) and Auburn (7).
• Carolina now has 12 single-digit turnover games this season. The 2007-08 team had 12 games with single-digit giveaways, the most by a Gamecock team since entering the SEC in 1991-92.
• The Gamecocks have five SEC games with 20 or more assists. That is T-3rd most in the league with Kentucky (5). Tennessee and Auburn are tied for the lead with six games of 20 or more assists in league action.
• The victory gives the Gamecocks 11 SEC wins, T-3rd most SEC victories all-time at Carolina (also won 11 games in 1997-98, 2015-16 and 2018-19).
• The win is the team’s sixth SEC road victory this season, which is second most all-time behind only the 1996-97 SEC Champion Gamecocks, who won seven games on the road en route to the league crown.

UP NEXT

Carolina (23-5, 11-4 SEC) returns home after a pair on the road for a top-25 battle with No. 24/24 Florida (20-8, 9-6 SEC) on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for noon (ET). Tom Hart (pxp) and Jimmy Dykes (analyst) will be on the call for the game which will be simulcast on ESPN and SEC network.