Kobe Brown scored 19 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out six assists as Missouri defeated South Carolina 83-74 Tuesday in Columbia, Mo.
The Tigers (18-6, 6-5 in the Southeastern Conference) improved to 14-2 at home while the Gamecocks (8-16, 1-10) suffered their eighth straight loss.
Sean East II scored 15 points, Nick Honor scored 14 and D’Moi Hodge added 12 for Missouri.
Gregory “GG” Jackson II came off the bench to lead South Carolina with 23 points. Hayden Brown scored 19 points and Jacobi Wright added 11.
Missouri made 12 of 25 shots from 3-point range and converted 17 of its 21 free-throw attempts.
The Tigers hit their first three attempts from beyond the arc while racing out to a 14-7 lead. South Carolina responded with a 7-0 run, with Wright scoring four points, to tie the game 14-14.
The Gamecocks repeatedly beat Missouri’s pressure defense with off-ball cuts and crisp passing. After the Tigers edged ahead 27-22 on Kobe Brown’s three-point play created by attacking the rim, Hayden Brown scored the next five points to trigger South Carolina’s 10-2 surge.
With the Tigers trailing 32-29, Aidan Shaw threw down an alley-oop dunk and hit a 3-point jumper to spark a 13-5 response — and Missouri finished the first half with a 42-37 lead.
South Carolina opened the second half with consecutive 3-point jumpers by Wright to move ahead 43-42.
The Tigers kept pushing their offensive pace, though, and pulled out to a 57-49 lead with 14:53 to play. Honor started the run with a 3-point jumper then added a fast-break layup.
Jackson hit a jumper and converted two drives to rally the Gamecocks to within one point at 61-60.
But the Tigers pulled away from there, with Honor hitting a 3-point jumper as the shot clock expired to extend their lead to 76-65 with 4:24 left.
The Gamecocks got no closer than 10 points until the final seconds.
–Field Level Media
