South Carolina Edges Massachusetts, 84-80

AMHERST, Mass. – Trailing by 11 with less than three minutes to play, the UMass basketball team (5-4) trimmed South Carolina's (6-4) lead to as little as two in the final minute, but ran out of time as the Gamecocks escaped the Mullins Center with an 84-80 victory on Wednesday night.

In a game that saw 11 ties and five lead changes, the Minutemen closed the game with 13 of the game's final 21 points, and nearly pounced on a loose ball in the final seconds for a chance at the tie, but South Carolina was able to draw the foul and make it a two-possession game with free throws late.

Four players finished in double-figures, led by Tre Mitchell's 17 on 5-of-9 shooting. Sean East II (16 points), T.J. Weeks (15 points) and Carl Pierre (13) also reached double digits with Pierre adding a career-high nine rebounds to finish one shy of his first career double-double.

Massachusetts shot 47% as a team from the floor (23-of-49) and 44% from three (10-of-23), while USC shot 55% (33-of-60) led by A.J. Lawson's 24 points. Jermaine Couisnard (16 points) and Keyshawn Bryant (13 points) also reached double-figures, while Maik Kotsar added nine points and a team-high nine rebounds.

With South Carolina leading by four at the break, the teams went punch-for-punch early in the second half with the Minutemen battling back to level the score on four occasions in the first 10 minutes of the second half, highlighted by Sy Chatman's alley-oop finish from Mitchell, and drawing the foul in the process to bring the Mullins Center crowd to its feet and tie the game at 55. Chatman finished the game with seven points and seven rebounds off the bench.

From there, though, the Gamecocks went on a 23-12 run over the next 7:23 to take its largest lead of the night at 78-67, with Lawson and Bryant contributing six points apiece to setup the late Minuteman charge down the stretch.

UMass came out of the gates hot, starting the game on a 9-2 run with five coming from Mitchell. Mitchell would finish the half with seven points on 2-of-3 from the floor (3-of-5 from the line) and four boards.

The Minutemen would lead by as many as nine in the first half thanks to 11 points from Weeks on 4-of-11 shooting (3-of-7 from three), taking a 19-10 edge midway through before South Carolina rattled off a 16-5 run over six minutes on 10 points from Lawson to retake the lead at 26-24 before heading into the break with a four-point lead, 39-35.

The Minutemen will head back out on the road on Saturday when Massachusetts travels to Harvard for a 1 p.m. tipoff on NESN.

Tickets for the 2019-20 UMass men's basketball season are now on sale for all remaining home games in the Mullins Center. Tickets can be purchased now online through the UMass Athletics Ticket Central page, by calling the ticket office at 866-UMASS-TIX, or by visiting the Mullins Center Box Office.

Scoreboard

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Team Stats

Tre Mitchell

Sean East II

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Carl Pierre

Players Mentioned

Sy Chatman

Sean East II

Tre Mitchell

Carl Pierre

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Players Mentioned

Sy Chatman

Sean East II

Tre Mitchell

Carl Pierre

T.J. Weeks Jr.

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics