COLONIAL LIFE ARENA: There was no need for a barrage of threes for USC Wednesday night in an 81-61 win over Presbyterian. After setting a school record with 43 long distance attempts on Sunday, the Gamecocks returned to more conventional basketball mixing in short jumpers and rives to the basket, along with their 25 three-point attempts.
The Gamecocks made eight shots from deep, but really did their damage by attacking the rim (22 points off of layups) and by drawing fouls and getting to the line. PC committed 22 personal fouls, and the Gamecocks went 25-32 from the line.
USC missed it first six shots of the game, the last five of which were three pointers. The Gamecocks then hit 23 of their next 39 field goal attempts as they built a 73-39 lead with just under ten minutes left.
USC made just one of its last 12 shots, and the Blue Hose took advantage to outscore the Gamecocks by 14 down the stretch to cut the final margin to 20.
Mike Sharavjamts led balanced USC scoring with 13 points. Freshman Grant Polk added 12 points off the bench. Jordan Butler had career highs with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Jonah Pierce led all scorers with 19 points.
The Gamecocks played a clean game with only six turnovers to go with 15 assists.
USC is now 3-0 and will host Radford on Tuesday night.
