Gamecocks school Georgia

COLUMBIA - Georgia saw an early lead erased in a matter of minutes Saturday and transformed into the second-worst loss of the season.

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South Carolina beat the Bulldogs 74-54 at the Colonial Center, drubbing Georgia on its first trip outside the state.

"I guarantee you we learned some things tonight," Georgia coach Dennis Felton said. "We had a rich experience tonight."

The win was the third in a row for the Gamecocks (9-4, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) over Georgia (6-6, 0-2). During that stretch South Carolina has outscored the Bulldogs 221-164.

Only Kevin Brophy's 3-pointer with 12.4 seconds left prevented the loss from being the team's worst since Tennessee beat the Bulldogs 110-83 during the 1999-2000 season.

Georgia held a 13-3 advantage after Steve Newman put back a Levi Stukes missed 3-pointer five minutes into the game.

But the Bulldogs turned the ball over three times and failed to score on its next seven possessions as the Gamecocks closed to 13-9 and then jerked the momentum away.

Georgia freshman point guard Sundiata Gaines stole the ball from South Carolina senior Josh Gonner and took it the other way for what appeared to be a wide-open layup. But Tarence Kinsey came from the left side, blocked Gaines' shot and flung the ball downcourt for a rim-shaking Brandon Wallace dunk with 11:32 before halftime.

"How quickly things can get away from you," Felton said, "if you let a few things get the best of you and allow that to cause you to go soft and lose focus on the things you have to do as teammates. The most efficient way to say it is mental toughness."

The Gamecocks outscored the Bulldogs 41-11 over the final 15 minutes of the first half.

"We had an eight-minute stretch where we played soft," Georgia sophomore Steve Newman said. "After that, we're playing 20 points down the rest of the way."

Senior forward Carlos Powell led South Carolina with 19 points on 8-for-12 shooting. The Gamecocks shot better than 50 percent for the fourth straight game.

South Carolina, which made 51.8 percent of its shots against the smaller, less athletic Bulldogs, shot 53.6 percent from the floor on Wednesday and became the first team in two years to make more than half its shots at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.

Shooting well against Georgia hasn't been that difficult this season. Three teams have done it, including Tennessee during a 72-65 Volunteers win on Wednesday at Stegeman Coliseum.

Levi Stukes led Georgia for the fifth of the past six games with 15 points, but made just 5 of 18 attempts. The Bulldogs shot just 31.2 percent for the game.

Gaines followed a career-best 23-point performance against Tennessee with a career-low five points on 1 of 13 shooting. He never found his grove, and five of his shots were blocked.

Reach Charles Shepard at charles.shepard@onlineathens.com.