For a half and change, South Carolina men's basketball showed a positive response from its 32-point loss yesterday against Colordao State. The young Gamecocks played tight defense and went on an extended 18-4 run against Davidson through the end of the first half bleeding into the start of the second half, but it did not hold.

The Wildcats fired back with a 26-8 run to take a double-digit lead midway through the second half, and held that lead the rest of the way for a 69-60 win in game two of the Charleston Classic.

South Carolina (2-2) will have one more chance to salvage a win out of the weekend against in-state opponent Furman on Sunday, while Davidson (4-1) will close its weekend out against Old Dominion.

Starting point guard Meechie Johnson did not play in the game, forcing Lamont Paris into a lineup change. Paris elected to go with Jacobi Wright as the starting ball-handler, and he played almost the entire game in the role.

Johnson's abscence forced the issue in the hunt for another consistent backcourt scorer. And just as he did in last Friday's dramatic win over Clemson, Chico Carter Jr. seized the role. He rebounded from a 2-of-9 shooting performance against the Rams by going 7-of-10 from the floor and 5-of-6 from 3-point range, guiding him to 26 points. Not only was that total the high-water mark for any South Carolina player on the young season, but it was also his career high as a Gamecock, beating out his previous high of 21 points against Clemson last season.

Carter's outside shooting keyed the early spurt. A transition 3-pointer from the right wing put South Carolina on top 26-23 while Davidson was in the midst of a stretch of just under nine minutes without scoring a point. Carter hit another one at the first half buzzer to make it 29-25 going into the locker room, and his team extended its lead as high as seven points when it took a 34-27 advantage.

But just when things were going well, a hot stretch of Davidson shooting derailed the momentum.

In a stretch from the 12:08 mark of the second half to the 8:41 mark, the Wildcats knocked down all six shots they attempted from the floor. Foster Loyer hit three 3-pointers in that stretch, accounting for half of his 18 points for the game in one blistering stretch. Sam Mennenga added in 15 points of his own, and Connor Kochera made it three Davidson players in double-figures with his dozen.

Once the lead slipped away for South Carolina, it never came back. Carter and company desparately tried to push the Gamecocks back into a competitive position for a chance to steal the game late, but poor shooting proved to be the differece. Non-Carter Gamecocks shot 13-of-41 (31.7 percent) from the floor, with GG Jackson's 12 points coming in as the next highest scorer.

South Carolina will have one final chance to salvage the weekend on Sunday, with a tip-off against the Paladins set for 10:30 a.m. ET.