Thornwell, No. 19 South Carolina edge Mississippi State

Sindarius Thornwell scored 28 points, Chris Silva added 15 and No. 19 South Carolina made a late surge to beat Mississippi State 77-73 on Saturday night.

The Gamecocks (20-5, 9-3) bounced back from a 90-86 four-overtime loss to Alabama on Tuesday. This game was close and hard-fought, too: Mississippi State led 64-63 with 5:17 remaining, but the Gamecocks scored the next nine points to pull away for the road win.

Mississippi State (14-10, 5-7) was led by freshman Tyson Carter, who scored a career-high 22 points. Quinndary Weatherspoon – the Bulldogs’ leading scorer who averages more than 17 per game – was held to just five points.

Thornwell was coming off a 44-point, 21-rebound performance in the Alabama loss. He was nearly as dominant during Saturday’s first half, scoring the Gamecocks’ first 10 points on the way to 19 before halftime.

But Mississippi State kept up with the Gamecocks for most of the night.

Carter came off the bench to score 16 first-half points for the Bulldogs and the game went into halftime tied at 36.

The Gamecocks were able to bounce back from a gut-wrenching home loss to Alabama. Thornwell was great in the first half and South Carolina made several smart plays down the stretch to get high-quality looks near the basket.

The Bulldogs lost for the fourth time in five games. It was a great performance for Carter, who shot 8 of 13 from the field, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. But the quiet night from Weatherspoon was tough to overcome.

This story was originally published February 11, 2017 at 9:34 PM with the headline "Thornwell, No. 19 South Carolina edge Mississippi State."