Meechie Johnson scored 33 points and South Carolina defeated Southern Miss 83-79 in overtime Sunday night in Columbia, S.C.
Eli Ellis added 20 points and Mike Sharavjamts scored 17 for the Gamecocks (2-0), who squandered a 16-point first-half lead before rallying behind Johnson to reach overtime.
Isaac Taveras scored 25, Tylik Weeks had 20 and Israel Hart scored 17 for the Golden Eagles (1-2).
Weeks converted a three-point play to start the scoring in overtime, but South Carolina scored the next five points to take a 75-73 lead.
Taveras’ layup tied the score, but Johnson made a free throw, assisted on a 3-pointer by Myles Stute and added two free throws that gave the Gamecocks an 81-75 lead with 21 seconds left.
Southern Miss got within two in the final seconds, but had to foul and Ellis made two free throws.
The Golden Eagles scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 41-38 lead. Sharavjamts’ 3-pointer ended a field-goal drought of 8 1/2 minutes dating to the first half for South Carolina, but Taveras’ three-point play helped Southern Miss build a 54-45 lead.
Johnson hit a 3-pointer to the score at 68 with 40 seconds remaining. Taveras made a layup to break the tie and Southern Miss fouled Johnson, who made two free throws to tie the score at 70 with five seconds left and force overtime.
Stute, Sharavjamts and Johnson made consecutive 3-pointers and the Gamecocks raced to an 11-2 lead. The Golden Eagles answered with a 7-0 run, but South Carolina answered with a 9-0 run that produced a 20-9 lead.
The lead grew to 16 on a 3-pointer by Ellis. Southern Miss scored the next six points to get within 10 before Johnson made a 3-pointer. The Golden Eagles made a pair of 3-pointers to get within seven before South Carolina rebuilt the lead to 11 then went cold.
Southern Miss had a 7-0 run to get within 38-34 at halftime as neither team scored during the final two minutes.
