Vols hold on, 70-67
KNOXVILLE — When Tennessee beat South Carolina on the road last month, Jordan Bowden went scoreless, Grant Williams had a quiet night and the Volunteers’ bench took a starring role.
The rematch followed a different and considerably more dramatic script.
Williams, Bowden and Admiral Schofield combined for 49 points and helped No. 18 Tennessee withstand a persistent South Carolina team in a 70-67 win for the Vols on Tuesday night.
Williams put No. 18 Tennessee ahead 70-67 on a turnaround jump shot with 11 seconds to go, and the Vols forced a Justin Minaya miss at the final buzzer.
South Carolina (13-13, 4-9 SEC) had lost five games in a row entering the contest, including the last three by at least 16 points. But the struggling Gamecocks answered when Tennessee took a 61-47 lead on a pair of Williams free throws with 10:01 remaining.
The Gamecocks went on a 10-0 run and Tennessee struggled to finish, going more than three minutes before Williams’ late jump shot put Tennessee ahead by three.
The Vols (19-6, 9-4) got back on track after a 78-50 loss at Alabama on Saturday. The win reclaimed sole possession of second place in the SEC standings for Tennessee at least for a night.
The Vols entered the night tied for second with Florida, which hosts Georgia tonight. Tennessee plays at Georgia on Saturday.
Williams finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-of10 shooting while Bowden added 14 and Schofield
scored 13.
A crowd of 13,126 for the 9 p.m. game was the third-smallest of the year at Thompson-Boling Arena, but it punched above its weight by voicing its displeasure with the officiating during a tightly called game that had a total of 40 fouls.
Twelve players saw action in the first half for South Carolina as post players Felipe Haase and Malik Kotsar each picked up three fouls. Second-leading scorer Chris Silva played only 10 minutes as he picked up two fouls in the half after scoring eight of South Carolina’s first 17 points.
Tennessee opened a 27-17 lead after Silva checked out, but the makeshift Gamecocks lineups drew within four points at halftime.
The foul trouble was more widespread for South Carolina, but Tennessee also played without starting center Kyle Alexander for the half’s final 12 minutes after he picked up his second foul. Alexander finished with no points and one rebound in nine minutes.
After not scoring in the first meeting, Bowden came out firing. The sophomore sharpshooter went 3-of-8 from the field in the first half with all but one of his attempts coming from beyond the arc.
The officials took several minutes early in the game to review tape and chat among themselves about the nature of a foul on Derrick Walker before assessing the freshman forward with a flagrant foul. That’s when the crowd began to take issue with the officiating.
Contact David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidWCobb and on Facebook at facebook. com/volsupdate.