Djurisic leads Georgia past South Carolina, 97-76

Published Jan. 22, 2014 10:34 p.m. ET

foxsports

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) Nemanja Djurisic shook a recent scoring slump with a career-high 22 points, and Georgia beat South Carolina 97-76 on Wednesday night, leaving the Gamecocks with their worst SEC start in 15 years.

Kenny Gaines had 14 points, Brandon Morris had 13 and Marcus Thornton had 12 for Georgia (10-7, 4-1 Southeastern Conference). The Bulldogs have their best start in the league since the 2002-03 season, when they also were 4-1.

South Carolina (7-11, 0-5 SEC) has lost its first five conference games for the first time since a 0-6 start in the 1998-99 season. The Gamecocks are 0-6 on the road.

Djurisic sank back-to-back 3-pointers to cap an 11-0 run as Georgia pulled away early in the second half. Djurisic, a junior forward, snapped a slump after managing a combined 11 points in his last three games.

Freshman Sindarius Thornwell led South Carolina with 26 points. Brenton Williams had 18 and Duane Notice added 14.

Georgia, last in the league with its average of 63 points in SEC games, set a season scoring high for all games. The Bulldogs made 10 of 18 3-pointers. Djurisic made each of his three 3-pointers.

Djurisic scored nine of Georgia's first 11 points, including a 3-pointer that gave the Bulldogs a 9-6 lead they wouldn't lose.

Georgia made six 3-pointers and 17 of 22 free throws in the half. Georgia pushed its lead to double figures for the first time at 25-13 on Juwan Parker's 3-pointer with 11:17 remaining and took a big lead of 15 points at 43-28 on Kenny Gaines' 3-pointer. The Bulldogs led 45-35 at halftime.

Georgia led by 11 before pulling away with the 11-0 run that left the lead at 64-42. Donte Williams started the run with a jumper.

South Carolina cut the lead to 15 points at 75-60 on a basket by Thornwell but Georgia quickly pushed the advantage back to 20 points.

The Gamecocks' last lead was 6-4.

There were a combined 59 fouls called, including 33 on South Carolina.