South Carolina leads wire-to-wire to beat LSU, 82-73

BATON ROUGE, La. -- — Meechie Johnson and Gregory Jackson II each scored 20 points and South Carolina led the entirety for an 82-73 win over LSU on Saturday.

South Carolina picked up its second road win in its last three games after knocking off Ole Miss 64-61 last week. Each of the Gamecocks' three Southeastern Conference wins have come on the road.

Jacobi Wright got South Carolina off to a strong start, knocking down 4 of 5 shots from behind the 3-point arc in the first half to score 12 points for a 36-31 halftime lead. The Gamecocks made 15 of 32 3-point attempts and were 25 of 54 from the field with 20 assists.

Johnson made 5 of 9 from long range and collected six assists to lead South Carolina (10-17, 3-11). Jackson made 4 of 10 from distance and grabbed eight rebounds. Wright finished 5 of 9 from distance with a career-high 18 points and Hayden Brown went 7-for-7 from the line to score 16 points and gathered seven rebounds. The Gamecocks were 17 of 18 from the line.

Cam Hayes scored 25 points, collected eight rebounds and four assists for LSU (12-15, 1-13). KJ Williams had 14 points and six boards and Derek Fountain scored 13. The Tigers shot 41.9% from the field, hitting 26 of 62. The Tigers suffered at the foul line making just 14 of 26.

South Carolina hosts No. 1 Alabama Wednesday before traveling to face No. 10 Tennessee Saturday. LSU hosts Vanderbilt Wednesday.

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