No. 25 South Carolina Top No. 8 Texas A&M 81-78
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COLLEGE STATION (AP) — Sindarius Thornwell had 25 points and nine assists, helping No. 25 South Carolina beat No. 8 Texas A&M 81-78 on Saturday.
Michael Carrera scored 20 points on 6-for-6 shooting for the Gamecocks (20-3, 7-3 Southeastern Conference), who bounced back from a 69-56 loss at Georgia on Tuesday. Mindaugus Kacinas finished with 11 points.
Danuel House and Alex Caruso had 16 points apiece for Texas A&M (18-5, 7-3), which has lost two in a row and three of four. Jalen Jones scored 14 points in the Aggies' first home loss of the season.
South Carolina had an 80-78 lead when Carrera was fouled with 17 seconds remaining. He missed the first free throw and made the second, and House then missed a long 3-pointer from the left side with 8 seconds to go.
After the ball went out of bounds off A&M in a tussle for the rebound, South Carolina's Laimonas Chatkevicius threw the ball out of bounds on an attempted inbounds with 5 seconds remaining. But A&M turned it over and South Carolina held on for the road win.
The game was tied at 70 when South Carolina's PJ Dozier drove the right baseline and hit a soft jumper with 4:58 remaining.
Following a missed 3-point attempt by A&M point guard Anthony Collins, Carrera drilled a 3 to make it 75-70 at the 4:16 mark. Thornwell then scored four straight points to make it a nine-point lead with 2:24 remaining.
South Carolina went 12 of 21 from 3-point range, including 7 for 10 in the first half. South Carolina was shooting 33.9 percent (130 of 384) from the 3-point line coming into the day.
The Aggies also had a nice day from long range, going 12 for 25 from beyond the arc.
TIP-INS
South Carolina: The Gamecocks went 9 for 16 from the free-throw line. ... South Carolina outrebounded Texas A&M 32-30.
Texas A&M: The Aggies lost consecutive games for the first time this season. ... Caruso also had eight assists.
UP NEXT
South Carolina hosts LSU on Wednesday.
Texas A&M plays at Alabama on Wednesday.
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