Gamecocks squander big lead, lose to Tide

NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- The Alabama Crimson Tide had blown enough leads this season to know nothing is safe. The South Carolina Gamecocks got too comfortable nursing an 18-point margin.

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Associated Press

South Carolina's Devan Downey has a shot blocked by Alabama's Senario Hillman (middle), as the Tide's Tony Mitchell also rises up to defend during the second half.

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Mikhail Torrance's 9-foot jumper broke a tie at 62 with 57 seconds left, and Alabama rallied from that deficit in the second half to beat South Carolina 68-63 on Thursday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

Alabama (17-14) won a third consecutive game against an SEC opponent for the first time this season and beat the Gamecocks (15-16) for the second time in eight days.

"I couldn't be prouder of our efforts, great win," Alabama coach Anthony Grant said. "Obviously, we're excited to still be a part of the tournament. I thought it was a great game to open up the SEC Tournament."

Down by 11 at the half, Grant reminded his players at halftime to hold onto their composure. The Tide just worked harder at rebounding in limiting their turnovers. They wound up outrebounding South Carolina 42-40 and had just four of their 12 turnovers in the second half.

"Coach tells us to be aggressive throughout the game and never give up fighting," Tide junior Justin Knox said. "They quivered under pressure, and we were able to come out with the victory.

Alabama will play No. 2 Kentucky in today's quarterfinals. Torrance finished with 17 points.

Devan Downey led South Carolina with 21 points.

The Gamecocks led 38-27 at halftime and went up 54-36 on Lakeem Jackson's bucket with 11:35 left. Then they went cold, not scoring another field goal until Ramon Galloway's 3-pointer with 1:15 to go tied it at 62.

"We had a hard time scoring," South Carolina coach Darrin Horn said. "They tried to take the ball out of Devan's hands little bit. We just played like a team that was trying to hang on instead of a team that was trying to win and pull away."

At the line needing to hit both attempts to tie it at 64 with 18.3 seconds left, Downey clanked his first off the front of the rim.

"It's just disappointing to lose period," Downey said. "The manner really doesn't matter. ... I thought we had the game pretty much in hand, but credit Alabama, who just kept playing and kept fighting."