COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Malik
Cooke knew he had to make a play and Damontre Harris knew he had to get a
block. Both followed through perfectly and South Carolina got the win
it badly needed.
Cooke scored 13 points, including the go-ahead
basket with 19 seconds left and Harris blocked a layup attempt by
Georgia's Gerald Robinson Jr. to save the Gamecocks 57-56 victory
Wednesday night -- ending a five-game losing streak that stretched more
than three weeks.
"We really were just tired of losing," said Cooke, South Carolina's only senior. "We just want to try and start a win streak."
The
Gamecocks (10-15, 2-9 Southeastern Conference) overcame a seven-point
deficit in the second half, capped by a wild finish at the Colonial Life
Arena.
Bruce Ellington had the chance to extend South Carolina's
lead after Harris' big block, but missed his foul shot. That gave the
Bulldogs one last chance. However, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was too
strong on his 3-pointer and Cooke got his hands on the rebound.
There
was a tie-up call and Georgia (12-13, 3-8) got 0.2 seconds to pull off a
miracle. But the 6-foot-9 Harris got a piece of Connor Notle's inbounds
pass and the ball went harmlessly off the side of the backboard to end
the game.
Harris ended with five blocks, to go along with his 9 points and eight rebounds.
"Coach (Darrin) Horn knows I'm pretty good at blocking shots," Harris said.
Robinson led Georgia with 11 points.
Brenton
Williams had 10 points and Harris finished with 9 points, eight
rebounds and five blocks. None were bigger than his swat down of
Robinson, who looked like he was on his way to putting Georgia back in
front.
"I have to give South Carolina credit," Georgia coach Mark
Fox said. "I thought they played a little hungrier than we did
tonight."
The Bulldogs appeared to take control midway through
the second half when Caldwell-Pope's two foul shots gave them a 46-39
lead with 9:11 to go.
Cooke, though, got South Carolina's rally
started with a jumper and Ellington followed with a 3-pointer for his
first basket of the game.
South Carolina tied it at 48-all on
Cooke's basket with 5:09 to go. The game was tied twice more before
Robinson gave Georgia it's final lead with three with 41.8 seconds left
and set up the final frantic moments.
"It probably goes without
saying that this, for the sake of our team, was an important game," said
Horn, the fourth-year coach under fire from fans for South Carolina's
last-place showing so far in the SEC.
Robinson was Georgia's only
player in double figures. Caldwell-Pope ended with 9 points, five fewer
than his average, on 3-of-12 shooting, including 1 of 7 from
three-point range.
Georgia had won two in a row over Arkansas and
a ranked Mississippi State team in overtime last Saturday. The Bulldogs
hoped to carry that momentum into the Colonial Life Arena against a
Gamecock struggling for any positives.
Yet, Georgia couldn't get
much going early on. Leading scorer Caldwell-Pope was 1 of 4 for the
half, missing all three of his attempts from behind the arc. The
Bulldogs ended the period 9 of 29 (31 percent).
South Carolina, meanwhile, found a bit of life thanks to freshman guard Brenton Williams.
Georgia
was up 21-20 on Caldwell-Pope's jumper when Williams struck for two
straight 3-pointers that brought the sparse crowd at the CLA to their
feet.
South Carolina built a 28-23 lead right before the break --
remember last year in this contest the Gamecocks trailed 28-9 -- when
Dustin Ware drained a fade away three as time ran out.
The
Gamecocks leading scorer, Ellington, also had some shooting problems. He
was 0 of 3 overall and missed his two three-point attempts. The
sophomore guard also left the game for a time in the first half after
spraining a toe on his right foot. He returned a short while later and
played 15 minutes of the half.
South Carolina hit 14 of 15 foul shots, Ellington's miss at the end the only shot off the mark.
Cooke
played for Fox when both were at Nevada. Cooke transferred to the
Gamecocks to be closer to his family in Charlotte, N.C. The two have a
good relationship, Cooke said, and he didn't think at all that he was
beating his former coach. "I just wanted to get a win for South
Carolina," Cooke said. "That's what was in my mind."
