A big 1st: Gamecocks reach Elite Eight

NEW YORK — Sindarius Thornwell scored 24 points and seventh-seeded South Carolina cruised past thirdseeded Baylor 70-50 on Friday night in the East Region semifinals, the Bears’ worst NCAA tournament loss.

The Gamecocks (25-10) were in control from the middle of the first half on, mixing defenses and hustling all over the Madison Square Garden court to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time.

South Carolina will meet the winner of the Wisconsin-Florida game Sunday with a trip to the Final Four at stake.

P.J. Dozier and Chris Silva had 12 points each and Duane Notice added 11 for the Gamecocks.

Johnathan Motley had 18 points, 12 in the second half, for Baylor (27-8), which struggled to get any offense going. The Bears missed 11 of their first 13 shots from the field and it didn’t get a whole lot better the entire game. They finished 17 for 56 from the field (30.4 percent), including 3-for-13 from 3-point range.

South Carolina opened the second half on a 12-6 run to get extend the its lead to 49-28. The Gamecocks’ largest lead was 6341.

Baylor was able to close to 11 points but that was as tight as the game would get.

The Gamecocks went on a 16-0 run that lasted 7:44 in the first half. They turned a 15-15 tie into a 31-15 lead with 2:50 left in the first half. The Bears went 0 for 10 from the field and committed four turnovers during the run. South Carolina’s biggest lead of the half was 37-20 on a 3 by Notice with 29 seconds to play. It was 37-22 at halftime.

The Bears shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half (8 of 32) and committed seven turnovers.

The Gamecocks came into the NCAA tournament having lost five of seven, but have since stormed past No. 10 seed Marquette in the first round and upset No. 2 seed Duke.

The Bears, who came into the tournament having lost four of seven,were trying for their second Elite Eight appearance. Baylor’s previous worst loss in the NCAA tournament was 69-52 to Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 in 2014. The 22 points matched Baylor’s low for a half this season.