South Carolina pulls away late, beats Louisiana Tech 85-76

The South Carolina Gamecocks men’s basketball team opened the year with an 85-76 win over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. In a back and forth battle the Bulldogs got as close as 4, but could never close that gap as the Gamecocks extended their lead late.

The Gamecocks got off to a good start as they held a 44-31 lead at the half, despite Chris Silva having to sit nearly the entire first half due to foul trouble. However, the Bulldogs came alive in the second half as they started to chip away at the Gamecocks’ lead. Omar Sherman would pull the Bulldogs to a 67-63 score at the 6:12 mark in the second half. But the Bulldogs would struggle the rest of the way as the depth for the Gamecocks shone through and the Bulldogs dealt with foul trouble across the board.

It was business as usual for Sindarius Thornwell and Duane Notice, as they led the Gamecocks with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Sindarius also added 7 rebounds and 6 assists to his stat totals. Chris Silva, despite misses almost all of the first half, finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks.

The Gamecocks move to 1-0 on the year and they will face the Holy Cross Crusaders on Sunday at 6 PM. The game can be found on the SEC Network.