South Carolina Basketball: Gamecocks dominate professionals again in Bahamas
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball is currently in the Caribbean. Specifically, Lamont Paris’ Gamecocks are on a team bonding trip to the Bahamas, but though the trip was designed more for bringing the team together (there are eight newcomers), there has been some basketball on the agenda between the snorkeling excursions and trips out on the boat.
On Friday, South Carolina basketball knocked off a professional team from Lithuania (Zalgiris-2) in an exhibition that saw the Gamecocks shoot a lot of 3-pointers.
That trend continued in the second leg of Carolina’s two-exhibition trip to paradise. While there was no live stream of the contest, the Gamecock Men’s Basketball Twitter account tweeted several updates to keep fans apprised of the action.
Playing against Club Obras Argentina (who finished 7th last year in the Argentine professional league La Liga de Basquet), the Gamecocks dominated from start to finish. Six USC players finished in double figures, and the team went 17-38 from 3-point land, good for a 44% number from the outside.
Physically outmatching their opponent, South Carolina led 27-14 after the first quarter (the games in the Bahamas were played in four quarters instead of two halves like NCAA basketball games).
The onslaught worsened in the second period as Carolina scored 28 points while only allowing 12 points for COA.
The second half was tighter as the Gamecocks only won the scoring margin by a score of 28-24 in the third quarter and 23-17 in the 4th. Lamont Paris’ squad’s final margin of victory was a whopping 39 points as they brought home the win by a score of 106-67.
South Carolina basketball’s top offensive performers in the game included Meechie Johnson, Myles Stute, and Jacobi Wright who scored 17, 17, and 15 points respectively while knocking down three 3-pointers each. Freshman Collin Murray-Boyles had the best day offensively as he was perfect from the field (7-7), including 2-2 from deep for 16 total points.
Transfer newcomers BJ Mack (8) and Stephen Clark (10) paced the Gamecocks in rebounding as only guards and newcomers played more than 11 minutes in the matchup.