Virginia Falls 70-59 to South Carolina
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 9 Virginia (9-2) came back to tie the game in the second half but South Carolina (8-4) held on to win 70-59 on Sunday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena.
Mamadi Diakite (Conakry, Guinea, Africa) had a career-high 21 points, going 9-for-11, from the free throw line. Kihei Clark (Woodland Hills, Calif.) finished with nine points and Casey Morsell (Fort Washington, Md.) added eight.
South Carolina shot 55.1 percent from the field for the game, with Jair Bolden scoring a game-high 22. UVA shot 44 percent from the field. The Cavaliers outrebounded South Carolina 26-24, but had 19 turnovers.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Kody Stattmann (Bentley Park, Queensland) hit a three pointer to start the game, but South Carolina went on a 13-2 run to lead 13-5. UVA cut it to 13-9 after a three by Tomas Woldetensae (Bologna, Italy). The Gamecocks went on another run and stretched their lead as many as 13 in the first half. Virginia trailed 33-24 at the half.
Braxton Key (Charlotte, N.C.) hit a three to begin the second half. South Carolina had another run to lead 42-29. Virginia then responded with a 16-3 run to tie the game 45-45 with 11:09 to play but couldn’t take the lead.
THE GAME BALL GOES TO
Mamadi Diakite scored a career-high 21 points and matched the team-high with five rebounds.
NOTES
• The Gamecocks shot 55.1 percent from the field, highest against UVA since Florida State (3/15/19)
• UVA is 26-25 all-time vs. the Gamecocks, including a 16-9 mark in Charlottesville
• Diakite had a career-high nine made free throws
• Diakite had two blocks to move into fourth on UVA’s all-time list with 131
UP NEXT
Virginia will have a break before hosting Navy on Sunday, Dec. 29 at 4 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.