Dogs end their road woes

COLUMBIA - Levi Stukes lay at midcourt as his teammates streamed off the Georgia bench and collapsed on top of him.

About the only thing the Bulldogs guard felt was the burden of 15 consecutive Southeastern Conference road defeats melting away.

Stukes' 3-pointer from the top of the arc as time expired gave the Bulldogs a 64-61 overtime win over the Gamecocks at Colonial Center.

"When I hit the shot, I kind of zoned out," he said. "I really didn't hear my teammates running and jumping on me. I hit a big shot that gave us a win that we really needed. This is one of the best wins we've had during my career here."

It was Georgia's first overtime win since December 2004, and it snapped a conference road losing streak that dated to a Jan. 17, 2004, win at Rupp Arena.

On Tuesday, Georgia will see how much steam it picked up. The Bulldogs play host to reeling Kentucky, which is now 0-2 in the conference. South Carolina coach Dave Odom, whose team is off to its worst start since 2000, wasn't surprised that Stukes hit the game-winner.

"Levi Stukes was a pain in our side all day long," Odom said of the junior who scored a game-high 20 points. "We never did get a handle on him.

"Hitting that shot in the last second there was the final blow to put us away for the day."

Mike Mercer also had a part in driving Odom mad.

The freshman snatched a midcourt steal at the end of regulation, had another one to give the Bulldogs their final possession and tied it 61-61 on a floating jumper just before that.

In back-to-back losses to Florida and Tennessee, the Bulldogs' defense had disintegrated, specifically in the second halves. The Bulldogs turned it around against South Carolina by implementing a 1-3-1 zone midway through the first half and for most of the second half and overtime.

The rarely used formation worked well enough to beat an undefeated Clemson team in late December.

It did the trick against the Gamecocks, too. Following a first half in which they shot 50 percent from the field, the Gamecocks were just 7-for-27 in the second half and 2-for-6 in overtime.