National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
South Carolina 57, Georgia 56
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Where: The Colonial Center Arena, Columbia, South Carolina
Officials: # Lee Cassell, # Joe Lindsay, # Mark Whitehead
Attendance: 7569

SOUTH CAROLINA 57, GEORGIA 56:
Malik Cooke scored the go-ahead basket with 24 seconds left and the host Gamecocks rallied from seven points down in the second half to snap their five-game losing streak.

South Carolina (10-15, 2-9 SEC) won its first game since Jan. 25, overcoming a 46-39 deficit with nine minutes remaining. Cooke scored 13 points to lead the Gamecocks, who had lost nine of their past 10.

Georgia’s Gerald Robinson drained a 3-pointer from the left corner with 46 seconds left to give the Bulldogs (12-13, 3-8) a 56-55 lead. After a timeout, Cooke banked home a runner in the lane with 24 seconds to go to put the Gamecocks ahead 57-56.

Robinson drove to the basket on the other end, but Damontre Harris blocked his fifth shot of the night. South Carolina’s Bruce Ellington missed the front end of a one-and-one, the only missed free throw for the Gamecocks. Georgia grabbed the rebound, but Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s 3-point attempt bounced high off the front rim.

The officials called a jump ball and Georgia got possession with 0.2 seconds left, but the inbounds pass was tipped and time expired.

Georgia started quickly, building a 16-9 lead on Dustin Ware’s 3-pointer with 9:04 left before halftime. The Gamecocks used a 9-0 run to erase the early deficit, then used an 11-2 run to take a 50-48 lead on Ellington’s driving basket with 4:33 remaining.

Harris finished with nine points and eight rebounds to go with the five blocked shots.

Robinson led Georgia with 11 points.

GAME NOTEBOOK:
South Carolina finished 14 of 15 from the free throw line. … Neither team got off to a great start shooting. Georgia, which ranks last in the SEC in scoring and field goal percentage, shot 31 percent in the first half. South Carolina wasn’t much better at 34.6 percent. … Cooke needs 16 points to reach 1,000. … The victory snaps Georgia’s three-game winning streak in the series.
Top Game Performances
 
Georgia   South Carolina
Gerald Robinson 11 Scoring Malik Cooke 13
Gerald Robinson 6 Assists Bruce Ellington 4
Marcus Thornton 8 Rebounds Damontre Harris 8
Marcus Thornton 3 Free Throws Made Anthony Gill 5
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 2 Steals Malik Cooke 2
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 1 Blocks Damontre Harris 5
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Georgia 56 35.1 6-17 10-14 14 35 2 5 13
South Carolina 57 38.8 5-20 14-15 10 27 8 8 14