ROCK HILL, S.C.- James Reese V and Devin Carter combined for 23 second-half points and South Carolina overcame a 16-point deficit to edge Florida State 66-65 on Sunday.
Carter’s bucket with three minutes left gave the Gamecocks (7-2) the lead for good and they held on when Malik Osborne missed a wide-open 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Carter finished with 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Reese added 13 points with three 3-pointers and Wildens Leveque had 10 points. The Gamecocks were without second-leading scorer Jermaine Cousinard (12.1), who was dealing with an ankle injury. He has missed two of the Gamecocks’ last three games with injuries.
Osborne led the Seminoles (5-4), who lost their third straight, with 15 points with three 3-pointers plus nine rebounds. Caleb Mills added 13 points.
Carter and Reese put together scoring streaks in the second half to get the Gamecocks their first lead since the opening minutes. Carter scored seven unanswered points and a few minutes later Reese followed with a 10-0 run including a pair of 3-pointers and a steal and layup to put the Gamecocks up 54-50. The Seminoles tied it with 3:25 remaining before Carter’s go-ahead basket.
Florida State outscored the Gamecocks 23-5 over seven minutes to take a 27-11 lead and stayed ahead by double figures until South Carolina got a 12-3 run with seven points from Carter to cut the Seminoles’ lead to 36-30 by halftime.
Each team committed 17 turnovers. The Gamecocks outscored Florida State 38-20 in the paint, making up for a a 10-of-20 free-throw showing compared to the Seminoles’ 21-of-28.
The neutral site game was part of the No Room for Racism Classic.
South Carolina is next host to Allen on Tuesday while Florida State is home against Lipscomb on Wednesday.