Columbia, SC (AP)-South Carolina coach Lamont Paris never admitted that he had a last-place team and he had seen with a smile as his 18th-ranked gamekox has proved him right.
The latest evidence came on Saturday when Mechi Johnson had 25 points, which included a Go-Foreward 3-Pinter with 43.4 seconds, below 10 points below 10 points the South Carolina rally, which was in the second half of the 82-76 victory over the number 24 Florida.
The second year coach Paris said with a smile, “There is a lot of doubt around these people.” His team was selected by the media to end the final at the South East conference in October. Now, entering the last week of the regular session, GameCox (24–5, 12–4) has a chance to win the title of the conference.
Paris said, “I knew what we had, I knew what our people were,” had gone 11-21 a year ago from 11-21 in the season. “I knew we have winning people who wanted to win.”
This was clear in the second half when he returned 56-46 to win the 10th time in his last 12 matches.
Johnson led the route with his 21 points in the last 20 minutes. He also had two important theft as Florida tried to achieve the lead. Johnson had three tie-breaking shots in the last five minutes, including his 3-pointers from the left elbow, which put the gameCox forward for good.
“I just liked it. I was confident, “Johnson said, Ohio state transfer.
Gaters (20–9, 10–6) had trusted strong defense to take their second half lead, but could not include the team’s top scorer Johnson this season. Her driving paste with five minutes to play gave South Carolina her first lead in the early stages of the game.
Florida left Walter Clayton Junior’s sixth 3-pointer with 1:12 in 74-All, before Johnson hit the game-winner.
Colin Murray Boyles, a freshman, ended with a double-dabble with 15 points with his first career and 11 rebounds.
Jacobi Wright had 16 points, 12 in the first half, to keep South Carolina enough to rally under stretch.
Clayton had 20 points and Zayan Pulin scored 18 runs for the gates.
Big picture
Florida: Gaters were tied to the fourth to come to SEC, winning nine of their last 11 and looked at the path of another victory. Their late faded they can have a top-four seeds and a shot to relax a little extra before the SEC tournament in two weeks.
South Carolina: Third in the league, GameCox has a legal shot when he comes up with an SEC title, if they can beat the number 4 Tennessee in the final domestic game of the season.
Defensive change
A part of the return of South Carolina was a change in defense in the area of 1-3–1. Switch worked with the GameCox, with eight out of 12 turnover of Florida at the winning rally. Florida’s coach Todd Golden said, “We were not aggressive in attacking him and we made it very high.”
next
Florida: On Tuesday night, he stops the weather of his home against Alabama.
South Carolina: ends her home weather against Tennessee on Wednesday night.
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