Gamecocks fall to Missouri
Jabari Brown had 24 points with a career-best six assists and Jordan Clarkson added 22 points, helping Missouri handle South Carolina 82-74 on Saturday.
Earnest Ross added 14 points for the Tigers (15-4, 3-3 SEC), who led by double digits most of the way and kept the Gamecocks (7-12, 0-6) winless in conference play. The winners shot 54 percent and combined for a season-best 18 assists.
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Brenton Williams had a career-best seven 3-pointers and a season-best 32 points for South Carolina, which has dropped the first six conference games for the first time since a 0-6 start in 1998-99, and is 0-7 on the road. Sindarius Thornwell fouled out late and had 14 points after totaling 25 points the previous two games.
Brown leads the SEC in scoring with an average of about 20 points and was 4 for 6 from 3-point range. He's 16 for 24 from long range the last four games.
Missouri is 43-2 at home in three seasons under coach Frank Haith. South Carolina coach Frank Martin picked up one of the wins in 2012 when he was at Kansas State but is 1-6 overall at Missouri.
Michael Carrera scored six of his 16 points in the final 1:46 for South Carolina, including two free throws that cut the deficit to six points with 1:18 to go. Ryan Rosburg was 0 for 4 at the line the final 1:29 for Missouri, but Carrera also missed a pair with just under a minute left.
Carrera added 11 rebounds for the losers.
Ross had 12 points and Missouri shot 50 percent in the first half, leading by as many as 20 points and taking a 38-22 cushion into the break. Wesley Clark had a 3-pointer and Ross converted a three-point play to cap a 16-0 run that put Missouri up 38-18 with 1:48 to go.
South Carolina cut the gap to 11 points early in the second half before Missouri answered with eight straight points, including 3-pointers by Clarkson and Brown in a 53-second span.
The Gamecocks waited more than 6 minutes for its first basket while falling behind 11-0, and shot 25.9 percent in the first half.
Thornwell, who totaled 50 points the previous two games, was held to six points in 12 minutes while saddled with two fouls.
The attendance of 12,033 was the largest of the season at Mizzou Arena, which holds just over 15,000.
-R.B. Fallstrom, The Associated Press: