Carrera lifts South Carolina over LSU in OT

Carrera lifts South Carolina over LSU in OT

Published Jan. 16, 2013 9:52 p.m. ET

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Michael Carrera's 23 points led four South Carolina players in double figures as the Gamecocks defeated LSU 80-73 in overtime Wednesday night to give first-year coach Frank Martin his first Southeastern Conference victory.

Carrera scored 21 points after halftime, including 10 in overtime, when the Gamecocks (11-5, 1-2) outscored the Tigers 13-4.

Brenton Williams added 16 points for South Carolina, while RJ Slawson and Lakeem Jackson each scored 11. Jackson added 11 rebounds to pace all players.

The Tigers (9-5, 0-3) led 69-65 with 2:41 to go before giving up a layup by Carrera and two free throws by Williams. LSU guard Anthony Hickey made a steal with the shot clock turned off but failed to create a shot before Johnny O'Bryant III missed a game-winning jumper attempt for the Tigers.

LSU shot the 3-pointer effectively to open the second half, connecting on five of its first seven 3-point tries, including four by Anthony Hickey, who finished with 18 points. He also grabbed seven rebounds, had three assists and two steals.

The Gamecocks were able to sustain pressure on the Tigers by getting into the bonus early in the second half. South Carolina attempted 37 free throws, connecting on 28. Williams and Carrera each made 9 of 10 from the stripe.

South Carolina jumped out to an 11-point lead, 34-23, by capitalizing on 11 LSU turnovers, but the closed the half with a 10-1 run to trail 35-33.

Unlike Saturday's home loss to Florida, when they were outrebounded 45-34, the Tigers beat South Carolina 40-36 on the boards. They lost the turnover battle, however, 22-15.

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