Hot-shooting South Carolina makes easy work of Albany

Meechie Johnson scored 15 points and Hayden Assemian added a career-high 13 points off the bench to lead South Carolina to a 96-67 win over visiting Albany on Tuesday in Columbia, S.C.

Myles Stute chipped in with 12 points on three 3-pointers. With Johnson and Stute leading the way with three 3-pointers apiece, South Carolina (9-4) went 14 for 30 from long distance in the win.

Amir Lindsey led all scorers and finished with 18 points on 7-for-17 shooting for the Great Danes (4-11). Okechukv Okeke scored 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting and finished with seven rebounds.

South Carolina made 9 of their first 12 shot attempts in the second half, which was capped off by an Eli Ellis 3-pointer that gave the Gamecocks a 72-46 advantage with 11:16 left in the game.

The Gamecocks' hot shooting continued throughout the entire second half. South Carolina shot 73.9% (17 for 23) from the floor, including 5 for 10 from long distance.

The 96 points scored were a season-high for the Gamecocks. South Carolina also had 19 assists.

After taking an early 8-6 lead, South Carolina went on a 14-0 run to give them a 22-6 cushion early in the first half. The run was capped off on an Ellis fastbreak layup following a Hayden Assemian steal.

Albany, however, was able to respond with a 13-2 run of their own to cut the deficit to 24-19 with 8:36 left in the half. The Gamecocks went scoreless for over three minutes during that span.

Stute, who scored 11 points in the first half, hit back to back three-pointers to give South Carolina a 30-21 lead.

The Gamecocks shot 50% from the floor in the first half and made nine threes. South Carolina scored 16 points off 10 Albany turnovers to take a 48-33 lead into the half.

South Carolina begins Southeastern Conference play on Saturday when its hosts No. 11-ranked Vanderbilt. Albany opens its America East schedule with a road test against UMass Lowell.

--Field Level Media