No. 17 South Carolina beats Mississippi St 93-89 in OT to finish impressive regular season

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — B.J. Mack had 25 points and Collin Murray-Boyles scored 19 to lead No. 17 South Carolina to a 93-89 overtime victory against Mississippi State on Saturday.

Mack had seven points in overtime for South Carolina (25-6, 13-5 Southeastern Conference), which improved to 2-0 this season in overtime games. Meechie Johnson had 16 points for the Gamecocks.

Freshman Josh Hubbard had 28 points for the Bulldogs (19-12, 8-10), who dropped their fourth straight game. Cameron Matthews had 18 points and 11 rebounds for Mississippi State. Dashawn Davis added 16 points and Tolu Smith had 14 points and 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.

For the third straight game, Mississippi State has a slow start. South Carolina took a 17-8 lead after a Myles Stute 3-pointer with 12:48 remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs kept chipping away and would tie the game at 27-27 with 5:14 left in the opening half. South Carolina eventually took a 38-37 advantage at halftime.

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina: The Gamecocks finished off one of the best turnarounds of college basketball. They were 4-14 in the SEC and 11-21 overall a year ago.

Mississippi State: The Bulldogs must now regroup for the SEC Tournament with their postseason hopes on the line.

UP NEXT

South Carolina: The Gamecocks open SEC Tournament play in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.

Mississippi State: The Bulldogs face LSU on Thursday in the conference tournament.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball