Frank Martin’s South Carolina Gamecocks Move To 3-0 After Beating Rider

November 19, 2012; Columbia, SC, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks forward Mindaugas Kacinas (25) drives past Rider Broncs center Dera Nd-Ezuma (21) in the second half at Colonial-Life Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Blake-US PRESSWIRE

Frank Martin has won his first three games as head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks men’s basketball team after an 88-76 win over the Rider Broncs (I called them the Broncos in the preview of this game, but, you know… it’s Rider…).

Mindaugas Kacinas scored 18 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench and Brenton Williams dropped 22 points, four rebounds and four assists to lead the Cocks to their third straight win.

The Gamecocks only played eight players since Michael Carrera is still dealing with a concussion and Laimonas Chatkevicius won’t be back until the St. Johns game. Still, those eight players did enough to get the double digit victory.

Lakeem Jackson added 14 points and seven rebounds, LaShay Page scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds and Brian Richardson and Damien Leonard combined to score 14 points off the bench.

As a team Carolina shot 53 percent and 48 percent from behind the arc. The Gamecocks out-rebounded Rider 31-21, but lost the turnover battle 18-17 and allowed the Broncs to shoot 50 percent from the field.

At one point the Gamecocks had a 20 point lead in the second half. Rider forced a bunch of turnovers towards the end of the game to draw to within 10 with just under a minute to go, though.

Carolina next takes the court against Elon, a team that beat SC last year, on Wednesday.