Georgia defeats South Carolina for first time since 2016
Kario Oquendo scored all eight of Georgia’s points in overtime as the host Bulldogs earned their first victory over South Carolina in nearly seven years with an 81-78 Southeastern Conference win on Saturday in Athens.
Oquendo finished with 16 points and Mardrez McBride added a team-high 17 for Georgia (14-7, 4-4 SEC), which ended a 12game losing streak to the Gamecocks.
The Bulldogs’ last win over South Carolina was in the SEC tournament in March 2016.
Frank Anselem added 12 points and Terry Roberts had 10 points and nine assists for the Bulldogs, who rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 6:31 of regulation.
South Carolina (8-13, 1-7), which extended its losing streak to a seasonhigh five games, was led by Gregory “GG” Jackson II, who had 18 points and nine rebounds. Hayden Brown added 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jacobi Wright scored 13, Chico Carter Jr. added 12 points and Meechie Johnson finished with 11.
With the game tied at 73 at the end of regulation, Oquendo split a pair of free throws to give Georgia a 74-73 lead with 4:11 left before Wright’s 3-pointer gave the Gamecocks a 76-74 edge with 3:44 to play.
Georgia tied the game on Oquendo’s layup 30 seconds later before he hit two more free throws for a 78-76 lead with 2:46 left and made another pair for an 80-76 advantage with 2:25 to go.
Jackson split two free throws, cutting the deficit to 80-77 with 2:06 to play.
With nine seconds left, Jackson made his first free throw but missed the second.
Oquendo split a pair of free throws with 5.6 seconds left to provide the final margin after Jackson’s long 3-pointer from the left wing clanged off the rim as time expired.
After South Carolina took a 62-52 lead on Jacobi Wright’s free throw with 6:31 to play, Georgia went on a 10-0 run over the next 1:16 to tie the game on Jusaun Holt’s two free throws with 5:15 left.
Anselem’s layup with 1:40 gave Georgia a 70-69 edge before Brown’s layup off Johnson’s miss put the Gamecocks ahead by a point with 1:17 to go.
Oquendo tied the game by splitting a pair of free throws with 58 seconds remaining.
Holt made two free throws with 51 seconds left before Jackson’s layup tied the game at 73 with 30 seconds
left, sending the game into ended its three-game losing overtime, where Georgia streak.