Overtime letdown: Gamecocks drop wild one at Mississippi State
A wild game in Starkville, Mississippi, ended South Carolina’s win streak Saturday.
Frank Booker missed a potential game-tying runner with 6.8 seconds left in overtime, allowing Mississippi State to grab a 72-68 win at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Gamecocks, seeking their first three-game winning streak since early December, dropped to 15-14 overall and 6-10 in the SEC. The Bulldogs (21-8, 9-7) outscored USC 10-6 in overtime. That extra session put a damper on Hassani Gravett’s buzzer-beating 3 at the end of regulation.
Coach Frank Martin, speaking on the Gamecock Sports Network afterward, was naturally frustrated with Carolina’s season-high 21 turnovers.
“In the second half, they shot 50 percent because they got layup after layup after layup off our inability to run offense and not turn it over,” Martin said. “We come out of timeouts, we can’t execute. We just reverted in the second half to what we did that caused us to lose six games in a row.”
USC ended that losing streak last Saturday with an upset of No. 10 Auburn. A victory against Georgia followed. The Gamecocks appeared to be again heading in that direction in Starkville when they opened the game on an 11-2 run. They led by 13 with 6:07 remaining in the first half.
MSU, which beat Carolina on Jan. 31, whittled things down to seven at the break thanks to a Tyson Carter 3 with four seconds left.
The Bulldogs, who had four players reach double figures in scoring, followed a 33 percent shooting effort in the first half by making 14 of 28 attempts over the final 25 minutes. They got 21 points off takeaways, including a Lamar Peters steal and layup with 1:42 left in regulation that put Mississippi State up five.
That play seemed to provide the fitting exclamation point to a MSU win until the Gamecocks rallied. Gravett, who scored a career-high 19 points but also turned it over a season-high eight times, took an in-bounds pass with four seconds left, sprinted up-floor, stopped beyond the top of the key and launched before the horn sounded.
The swish put South Carolina into overtime for the first time this season.
The Gamecocks never led in the extra session, not scoring again after a Gravett layup tied things at 68 at the 1:21 mark.
USC’s Chris Silva had 11 points, 12 rebounds, four fouls and seven turnovers over 24 minutes.
“He was awful,” Martin said of his junior forward. “He didn’t execute anything I asked him to execute in overtime. You can’t win when your best player doesn’t execute when you’re supposed to execute.”
Mississippi State, which didn’t take a second half lead until the 5:53 mark, got 19 points and five assists from Peters.
“That was a phenomenal win,” Bulldogs coach Ben Howland told reporters, “a gut-check win against a very tough, hard-nosed team in South Carolina.”
The Gamecocks return to action Wednesday with their final home game against LSU. Tip time is 6:30 p.m.
SOUTH CAROLINA (15-14): Minaya 1-6 0-0 2, Kotsar 5-11 1-2 11, Silva 4-5 3-4 11, Hinson 2-2 3-5 8, Gravett 8-13 0-0 19, Cudd 1-2 0-0 2, Haase 4-11 2-2 11, Myers 1-2 2-3 4, Booker 0-7 0-0 0, Beatty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-59 11-16 68.
MISSISSIPPI ST. (21-8): Holman 1-3 1-2 3, Ado 1-3 0-1 2, N.Weatherspoon 3-7 3-3 10, Peters 6-16 5-6 19, Q.Weatherspoon 3-8 7-8 13, Stapleton 2-7 0-0 4, Wright 3-3 2-3 8, Carter 5-9 0-0 13. Totals 24-56 18-23 72.
Halftime—South Carolina 32-25. End Of Regulation—Tied 62. 3-Point Goals—South Carolina 5-18 (Gravett 3-6, Hinson 1-1, Haase 1-4, Kotsar 0-1, Minaya 0-3, Booker 0-3), Mississippi St. 6-20 (Carter 3-5, Peters 2-7, N.Weatherspoon 1-3, Holman 0-1, Q.Weatherspoon 0-2, Stapleton 0-2). Fouled Out—N.Weatherspoon, Booker. Rebounds—South Carolina 38 (Silva 12), Mississippi St. 29 (Q.Weatherspoon, Holman 7). Assists—South Carolina 8 (Gravett 3), Mississippi St. 14 (Peters 5). Total Fouls—South Carolina 21, Mississippi St. 12. A—8,162 (10,575).
This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Overtime letdown: Gamecocks drop wild one at Mississippi State."